Stars and Smores
by sweetbbyfox
Summary: Marinette gets to spend two weeks on a camping trip with her classmates, but more importantly, with Adrien. But of course trouble seems to follow them wherever they go, as they have to fight off a new nasty villain. How will their friendship develop, and can they keep their classmates safe without revealing themselves?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi cuties! This is my first fanfic and I have NO IDEA what I am doing... that being said, I hope you enjoy! I'll try to update at least twice a week, and we'll see how that goes.**

 **Obviously I don't own Miraculous**

 _Chapter 1_

"Earth to Marinette?.. Marinette? Marinette!"

Alya frantically waved a hand in Marinette's far away face. Hey eyes were glazed and dreamy while her mouth was slightly open in a derpy grin.

"Oh Alya, did you hear that? A whole two weeks, in the beautiful outdoors, with Adrien!" She finally turned to her red haired friend and repeated with a slight squeak, "ADRIEN!"

Alya shook her head and laughed, "Maybe you will finally confess your love to him! Plus, he needs someone to love, the poor guy is just so sad lately."

Marinette sighed. 3 months ago Ladybug and Chat Noir had captured Hawk Moth, who turned out to be Gabriel Agreste. The news was devastating for Adrien, no one expected his rich father to be such an evil villain. He now lived alone in his huge mansion, though Nathalie checked on him routinely and Nino made sure to have sleepovers with Adrien every weekend. He had cheered up some since then, but when he wasn't distracted you could see him space out, his green eyes looking lonelier than ever.

Determination flashed Marinette's face. She was Ladybug, dammit! If anyone could bring some light into Adrien's life it would be her! But then came feelings of doubt. She was also Marinette, shy, clumsy Marinette. Her and Chat Noir still patrolled Paris together every few nights, but with Hawk Moth defeated their super hero lives had significantly mellowed out. Chat Noir was always so ecstatic to see Ladybug, and compared to how gloomy school was sometimes, she was starting to grow very fond of her nights with the punny cat. Some nights he appeared to be a little upset. But she understood and didn't need to ask how he felt. Now that Paris was safe, they weren't needed so much anymore. She was grateful for the safety of her beloved home, but she missed her adventures with Chat and the exhilarating feeling of battling Akumas.

"Remember to turn in your permission slips by Friday! I am looking forward to this camping trip with all of you," the teacher smiled softly, then sat as the bell rang and the class was dismissed.

Nino and Adrien stood up, turned and waved to the two girls, and then headed out together. Adrien aside, Marinette was really excited for this camping trip. She'd hadn't gone camping in years and it was always with her family. It was always fun, but to spend two weeks with her best friends and the love of her life was more than she could handle. Her and Alya exited the school together, hugged, and then went their separate ways to head home.

"Marinette, I am really happy too! About the camping trip," Tikki, the adorable little Kwami, floated out of Marinette's purse and rested herself in her jacket collar.

"Have you ever been camping before, Tikki?" Marinette asked as she fed her Kwami little pieces of cookie.

Tikki swallowed a bite and smiled, "oh yes! But it has been many, many years! But you know what's best about camping?"

"What's that?"

The kwami's eyes widened and she flew up to Marinette's face, "SMORES!" She yelled! Marinette shushed her in giggles and then hid her away back into her purse as she entered the bakery.

...

Ladybug hurried to the Eiffel Tower, a backpack hung over her shoulder full of pastries and soda. It was Sunday, and tomorrow morning she'd be leaving with her classmates for the camping trip. She was eager to talk with Chat. He was probably going to be disappointed to find out that she would be gone for two weeks, so she brought treats to compensate for the bad news. Plus, it had been a while since the two of them just relaxed together. To be honest, Marinette had had quite a few relaxing evenings with Chat since he visited about once a week. It was a little awkward for her at first, but she grew fond of the cat and enjoyed his company. He would tease her about her Adrien posters, and she would poke at him whenever she brought up ladybug and he would blush. They played video games together, he'd model her latest designs, they ate snacks, and some nights he would just lay across her lap while she petted him and scratched his ears. Chat Noir would purr and it delighted her. Her parents never let her have a pet, and she'd joke that he was now her new kitten. He was always sad to leave, but she would roll her eyes at him and always invite him to come back another night. It was entirely innocent, and her heart belonged to Adrien, so she never thought of those nights as anything more than friendship.

He was already there, leaning back on a blue blanket he'd brought with him. Chat opened one eye when she landed softly besides him, and greeted her with a soft purr.

"Hello my lady, what have you got with you this romantic evening. Pawsibly gifts for your purrfect partner?"

She rolled her eyes and let out a soft giggle which was heaven to his ears. He sat up, and patted the blanket next to him inviting her to sit. Ladybug plopped down beside him and opened her bag. Chat's eyes widened at the goodies and he laughed.

"You're kitten me, my lady! You actually brought me gifts!" He snuggled against her shoulder.

Ladybug laughed and pushed him away. With a wink she said "These are actually all for me, but I suppose I could share some with you."

"So what's the occasion?" Chat asked as he took bites of a cinnamon roll and purred obnoxiously.

He looked over to Ladybug who was finishing her macaron. She turned to him, her bright blue eyes reflecting the lights of Paris around them and for a second he was breathless. But her face looked concerned and he grew worried.

"Are you alright, my lady?"

She swallowed and smiled at him gently, "Yes Chat. But I bring some not so good news."

"What is it?" He took another mouthful of pastry.

"Well, I have something going on tomorrow and I won't be back for another two weeks. I feel bad leaving, but I trust you to keep Paris safe while I'm gone and maybe I'll bring something back for you!" She smiled at him hopefully, and to her surprise he didn't look at all sad, but more deep in thought.

"It's actually fur-tunate," he said with a devious grin, "Since I will also be busy. Could it be.."

"No." Ladybug cut him off, "I'm going somewhere with my family" she said, feeling guilty for lying. But she didn't want Chat to share anything too personal from his life as their secret identities was a priority for her.

He nodded with a sigh, understanding but also used to how she was when he tried to bring up their personal lives. Chat sighed, staring at her with his green mischievous eyes. But with an endearing tone he said, "I will miss you."

Chat almost swore he could see a slight blush cross her face, but he didn't want to fool himself. She smiled sweetly at him, and said quietly, "And I'll miss you, Chat Noir."

They spent another hour together, laughing and eating and enjoying the view of their gorgeous Paris.

...

Marinette yawned, then shivered slightly. It was a cool morning and way too early to be up and about. The class stood outside, waiting for their bus to pick them up. Everyone was sleepy, but eager for the trip awaiting them. Alya smiled suspiciously at her phone, then turned to Marinette.

"Sorry girl, but I'm going to sit with Nino today. Need me some boyfriend time!" She winked at Marinette, chuckling at her pout. "You know, since Nino will be sitting with me, Adrien will be all aloooone."

That woke Marinette up and her face turned crimson, "D-do you think he'd actually sit with me?"

Before Alya could respond, Adrien himself walked up to them with Nino at his side.

"Hey babes," Nino greeted Alya, "Since I'll be with you, we thought Adrien could sit with Marinette?"

Marinette began to panic. How would she survive 4 hours sitting next to perfect Adrien? She felt herself start to sweat and her face got even redder. Before she knew it, she was babbling.

"Y-You don't have to s-sit with me, I mean unless you want to- but you probably don't because it's just m-me but I'd love to love you, I mean love to sit with you, unless you d-don't want to and-"

Adrien put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a sincere smile, "I'd be happy to sit with you Marinette, unless you had plans otherwise."

At this point she was out of breath and all she could do was nod. Nino and Adrien went to grab their things as the bus pulled up. Alya giggled at her flustered friend, then they both went to help get everything packed on the bus. Chloe stood in the back with a puffy gold jacket and waited while Sabrina loaded both of their things all by herself. Marinette just finished getting her things on the bus when she saw Sabrina struggle to lift Chloe's huge suitcase.

"Did she really have to bring so much?" Marinette asked as she run to Sabrina's side and carried the luggage for her.

Sabrina wiped the sweat off her forehead and nodded, "She needed _everything_ , I don't think she's ever been camping before… Marinette?"

"Yeah?"

She looked away shyly and said, "You are really strong. Thank you!"

With that Sabrina ran to the bus doors and Marinette just smiled after her. She realized she was the only one not on the bus yet. Marinette took a deep breath, and saw Adrien up at the window waving at her, his face looked tired, but also impressed?

"You got this Marinette!" Tikki whispered from her bag, trying to calm the poor girl's nerves.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Thank you to those who have reviewed, followed, and favorited. You all mean the world to me! Here's some fluff and a tiny cliffhanger ;)_**

 _Chapter 2_

She couldn't believe this was happening. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was going to be spending the next four hours on a tightly packed bus sitting next to Adrien Agreste. In her head she went over breathing techniques, she needed to relax otherwise this opportunity was going to become a disaster. Part of her cursed Alya for getting her into this mess, while another part of her knew she owed her best friend big time. Adrien could sense how nervous Marinette was, he felt a little bad for her and hoped he could do something to make her more comfortable.

"You can relax, Marinette," He gave her a toothy grin, "I don't bite... hard."

Marinette choked and despite her awkwardness she let out a cute giggle. Adrien liked it, her soft laugh, it was something he didn't hear often as Adrien and wanted it to keep going. Time to let out some inner Chat Noir, he decided.

"Purr-haps we could play a game, to paws-sibly kill some time?" He winked.

Her mouth slightly dropped, did Adrien just say cat puns? She shoved him gently and laughed more, "What's with everyone and their cat puns?" Marinette shocked herself at the strength of that sentence.

"I'm just being claw-ver" Adrien responded, "No need for the cat-ittude."

She giggled more and covered her mouth to contain it, "D-don't be dumb Adrien, that was awful!"

He pulled out a notebook and pencil from his bag, "You mean claw-ful?"

The two played various paper games including tic-tac-toe and hangman. An hour had already passed and Marinette was proud of herself for getting along so well with Adrien. He also seemed to be enjoying himself. She looked around the bus and noticed almost everyone was asleep. Alya was across the aisle from them with her head on Nino's shoulder and his arm around her while they shared earphones and snored softly. Chloe and Sabrina were towards the front, snuggled with each other looking actually kind of cute. The teacher had an eye mask on and she too slept, with her head uncomfortably against the window. Beside Marinette, Adrien yawned. She then realized how tired she felt, her and Chat Noir had been out fairly late the night before.

"D-do you think we should get some rest too, while we have the chance?" she asked him, her voice a whisper now as she was aware of those sleeping. The thought of them snuggling like Alya and Nino made her blush, even though she knew it was unlikely.

He nodded, "Yeah, I was up pretty late last night and should probably get some sleep." Adrien picked up a large blanket from the floor by his feet. He shook it gently to get any dirt off, and Marinette saw that it was a Pokemon print.

"That's cute!" Marinette giggled even though she really meant it. She loved Pokemon when she was younger. Now she wasn't as into it, mostly because her time was more invested in crime fighting and fashion.

Adrien laid it across both of their laps, "We can share if you'd like! It's plenty big." She nodded and thanked him, her cheeks getting more flushed.

Both were unsure of how to sit, so they just sat straight up, slightly leaning against the other.

…

"Shut up Nino!'

"You're getting this on video right?"

"Yes, now shush before you wake them! Oh crap, she's waking up.."

Marinette opening her eyes and looked up at Nino and Alya who were holding their phones up in her direction. She was about to ask what they were doing when movement on her lap caught her attention. Her mouth dropped open, and despite her inner screaming she couldn't move. In her lap lay Adrian, curled against her stomach with a sweet, content smile on his face. Marinette's hands were in his hair and on his back, his breathing was soft and relaxed and under her hand she could feel.. purring? It wasn't obvious like Chat Noir did, but there was definitely a gentle rumble escaping his throat. The frozen girl's face got redder and redder by the second, she tried to move but she couldn't.

Adrien grunted and whispered, "More?"

Nino snorted and began to cackle, and Alya punched him.

"Marinette," Alya giggled, "You were petting him in your sleep. And I think he wants you to keep going."

She looked down at the beautiful sleeping boy. He did look peaceful, and as the shock started to fade Marinette realized how nice he felt there curled up against her. With a sigh, mostly to release the breath she was holding, she began to scratch his head and rub his back. Adrien's hair was so smooth, the golden locks falling gently through her fingers and reflecting off the sunshine outside the bus window. Her other hand shyly felt his back, he was so warm and his back was way more toned than she expected. Her face burned, but she closed her tired eyes and tried to fall back asleep despite her very proud friends watching her. As nervous as she was, something felt so right about him being there.

Not even 15 minutes later, Adrien began stirring. Dread came over Marinette and she had no idea what to do. Keep touching him? But what was he going to think? She looked over to Alya for help, but the girl was back to snuggling her boyfriend and playing some game on her phone.

"So comfy," Adrien moaned and he snuggled his face into Marinette, "and mmm cinnamon."

Alya and Nino looked up, and in unison said, "Oh my god."

Marinette let out a squeak and then Adrien's eyes flew open wide. He sat up, jumping slightly off the bus seat and his face turned tomato red. Marinette gave him an awkward smile and tried to speak.

"I-I'm sorry, you just seemed so comfortable and I don't know I didn't want to disturb you and your hair is SO soft and I- ahhh!" she shrieked and covered her face in her shaking hands.

To her surprise, Adrien started laughing.

"I'm really sorry Marinette," he started and she looked at him through her shielding fingers.

He nervously ran his hand through his tousled hair. With another laugh he sighed and Marinette internally swooned at how cute he was blushing. Alya and Nino were giggling across from them and Adrien raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't," Adrien gasped.

Nino wiggled his phone mockingly, "maybe I did," he sneered.

Adrien chucked his shoe at Nino's face. He barely dodged it and he laughed harder, "You should see the video Alya took!"

"I'm sooo embarrassed," Marinette whined as she slumped down in her chair.

Then Adrien paused, ignoring Nino's kissy faces, and turned to look at Marinette. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were gentle yet piercing.

"Really, I'm sorry Marinette. I don't know what happened but I feel really bad and I'm sorry I've made you so uncomfortable.."

"No!" Marinette yelped, "You were fine! Please, I'm just flustered but I-I'm not upset with you, Adrien."

He smiled at her happily, then pulled a 3dsXL out of his bag, "You like Pokemon right? Can I watch you play?"

She accepted the offer and for the rest of the bus ride they sat together like friends, laughing and talking.

…

"Everyone, gather your things up and get ready as we are going to be there in 5 minutes!"

The view outside was beautiful. No longer were they anywhere near building or cities. Just pure nature. The sky was clear and sunny, and outside were miles and miles of fresh, forestry trees. Up towards the front Marinette could hear Chloe complaining about how the long ride ruined her makeup. Everyone was starving and many needed a restroom.

They pulled into the campsite. There were 8 cabins spread widely in a large circle, perfect for two students per cabin plus an extra for their teacher. In the middle was a large bricked building, visibly the bathrooms and showers. On the right side was the female sign and on the left was male. Between each cabin was a fire pit and a picnic table. The road was dirt, but the rest of the area was lush green grass. Surrounding the campsite was lots of trees, full of leaves and some had low enough branches to climb. There was a trail leading into the woods in between the 4th and 5th cabins, something about it looked mysterious despite the warm atmosphere that the rest of the campsite held.

After the students unpacked their belongings into their cabins, everyone gathered by the bathrooms.

"I'm sure you're all as hungry as I am," said their teacher, "So it's best we eat lunch before we go over todays plans!"

She opened up three coolers and let the students each pick a sandwich, drink, and bag of cookies. Then they dispersed to different tables. Marinette sneaked a cookie into her purse for Tikki. Adrien, Nino, Alya, and Marinette sat together next to the girls' cabin, which was the 5th one and next to the trail.

They were just finishing their sandwiches when they hear a gut wrenching scream come from the woods.


	3. Chapter 3

**You guys! Thank you so much for the reviews and favorites! You all make my day even peachier 3 The more reviews, the more motivation I have so keep em coming ;)**

 _Chapter 3_

Instinctively reacting to the scream, Marinette stood up from her seat. Oddly enough, Adrien did the same thing. But before they could say anything, their teacher came running towards them. Her outfit was different than her normal school attire from earlier. Now she wore khaki capris and a light grey cotton hoodie, with some white tennis shoes. Other students began to gather after her. Their faces were more confused than scared, though Rose clutched to Juleka tightly.

Ms. Bustier cleared her throat, her face tense but brave, "You all stay here. I will be right back; I am just going to check on the noise. I am sure it is nothing to worry about, but I want you to stay here where it's safe."

"Shouldn't someone come with you?" Adrien asked her as the other students nodded in agreement.

She smiled at them, and with a comforting tone said "I'm sure it's nothing, please all of you stay. I will be right back."

And with that she jogged into the forest following the dark trail. Everyone watched her and didn't move until she was out of sight. The silence was dreary and finally Chloe spoke,

"Well now what?"

Alix groaned, "there's nothing to do here, and we can't go down the trail.."

"Maybe we should just stay in our cabins, until she gets back?" Max suggested.

Everyone agreed. It wouldn't be fun but things were tense and there wasn't much else they could in the meantime. Marinette and Alya walked together to the cabin next to them. Inside the cabin was tight, just two small wooden framed beds with hard mattresses on each side of the room with a little table in between them. By the foot of Alya's bed was a little bench, big enough for the two of them to sit together but it would be crammed. They each laid on their own beds, looking at the ceiling. There was a tiny window above them, and Marinette thought about how nice it will be to see the stars at night.

Alya thought otherwise and said aloud, "that'll be creepy at night."

Marinette laughed, but it came out more nervous than she had intended. The air suddenly felt awkward.

"You think she's okay?" Alya asked softly.

"I don't know," Marinette whispered, "I wonder who it was that screamed."

Alya shook her head, "We just got here and already something weird's happened."

Marinette agreed. The girls chatted for some time, and then decided to be productive. They got out paper, pencils, crayons, tape, and scissors. Half an hour later, the walls were decorated with colorful stars and flowers. Alya drew Ladybug and Marinette drew Chat Noir, giggling at the silliness of the drawings. They taped those to the wall as well.

"Now we'll still have Paris' heroes watching over us and keeping us safe!" Alya proclaimed proudly with hands on her hips.

Marinette smiled sweetly at her friend, hoping that Ladybug wouldn't be needed anytime soon.

….

Everyone had gathered back at the picnic tables next to Marinette and Alya's cabin. A little over two hours had passed since Ms. Bustier left and the students were beginning to panic. Mylene was crying into Ivan's chest as he held her close, as Alix was anxiously pacing from cabin to cabin. Chloe was cursing her phone for its lack of signal while she muttered something about her daddy, and everyone else was silent and clearly stressed out. It was hot out too, which just added more frustrastion.

"What the hell are we going to do if she doesn't come back?" Nino suddenly shouted and slumped his body across the table.

Alya rubbed his back, and no one responded to his question.

Marinette couldn't take it anymore, "I'm going to check on her. What if something happened and she needs our help?"

All eyes were on her now, and Alya's mouth dropped, "You're insane," she gasped, "What if you, like, get eaten by something?"

Adrien stood up, "I'll go with you, Marinette."

Marinette blushed and then Nino stood too, "Don't mind if I third wheel, right?"

Chloe scoffed, "As if Adrien would ever be with her! Marinette is so gross she'd probably try to get with Nino behind Alya's back!"

"Shut up, Chloe" Alya said, glaring at the blonde through her thick glasses. She grabbed Marinette's arm and pulled her towards the trail.

"Well," she smiled at her surprised friend whose bright blue eyes were opened even wider, "Let's get going!"

They looked into the dark forest and the dirt trail, and then the four of them headed inside. Before they'd even taken five steps, they saw light red-orange hair bobbing in the distance.

"Ms. Bustier!" the teens shouted, running to her.

She looked at the students in confusion when they stopped in front of her, panting, "Yes?"

Marinette froze, something felt off, "Are you alright?"

"Yes?" their teacher responded with an irritated tone, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Nino's voice rose, "You were gone for like, two freaken' hours! After that scream scared that the shit out of all of us!"

"Nino!" she spoke sharply, "Do not curse! And well yeah, that was nothing, just scared rabbits…"

She looked away from the students and marched down the path back towards the campsite. The four gave each other worried looks, and then hurried after her.

"What's with her?" Alya whispered.

"I don't know," Marinette replied.

Adrien's brow was furrowed in concentration. Ms. Bustier glanced back at all of them, so they stopped talking. Tikki peaked out of Marinette's bag, waving her hand to catch Marinette's attention.

She glanced down quickly at the Kwami, who then whispered in a barely audible tone, "I have a very bad feeling, Marinette."

Marinette's stomach dropped, but she tucked the Kwami back into the bag. She watched her teacher walk away. She was stiff, and her walk was formal and almost unnatural. Looking closer, Marinette noticed a purple bruise like shape on the back of her neck.

So did Adrien, "Ms. Bustier?"

She turned to look at him and snapped, "What is it, Adrien?"

"Uh," he stammered in shock; she was definitely acting weird, "What is that on your neck? Did you hurt yourself?"

Ms. Bustier halted, but didn't turn around. Instead, she pulled her hair out of its tight bun and let it fall loosely around her shoulders, covering her neck. Then, she continued on without answering Adrien's question. Marinette shivered, Tikki's warning repeating in her head.

"What the hell!" Nino winced looking anxiously at his friends.

They entered the campsite, and the waiting students shouted in joy to see their teacher return. The class gathered around her and immediately started asking her questions. Ms. Bustier stiffened, looking at them but not giving a single glance towards Marinette or her three companions.

"What took you so long?" sneered Chloe.

Kim asked eagerly, "So, what was that scream?"

Juleka stood silent while Rose had one hand on her arm and jumped up and down, "Did anything happen?"

More began asking questions, but Ms. Bustier's face remained straight. She took a step back, and raised her arm to silence them.

"Enough," she began, her harsh tone appalling everyone, "the screams were merely rabbits, probably being hunted by a larger animal. But that's no concern. I was just enjoying the trail and time must have slipped past me. I'm tired and going to rest, how about you all go down the trail to a lake and swim. It's about a twenty-minute hike there and the weather is… nice."

With that, she left them and went to her cabin, slamming the door shut behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

**I cannot thank each of you enough for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following. I love you all!**

"Anyone in here?"

Marinette's voice rang loudly in almost an echo against the steel walls of the bathroom. Silence followed, so she hurried into a stall while opening her purse. Tikki flew out and paused in front of Marinette's face, her eyes full of concern and her eyebrows furrowed. "Something very bad is going on," Tikki whined.

"Could it be an akuma? Is it possible for there to be a new Hawk Moth?" Marinette asked, holding Tikki tenderly in her hands. The tiny kwami shook her head, "No, I don't sense anything at all." She sighed, "But I do sense something. Ever since we found Ms. Bustier I've felt a chill in my antenna. Ladybug needs to do something, before someone gets hurt." Marinette sighed and sat down on the toilet seat, her head falling down to her chest.

"How am I supposed to be Ladybug without anyone knowing Ladybug is me?" she groaned, "And how will I explain as Ladybug why I'm even there in the first place? And I don't even know what I'll be up against! I don't have Chat here with me, what if I can't do this without him?"

Her face was miserable, but Tikki placed a gentle hand on Marinette's cheek and kissed her softly, "You're strong Marinette, you can take on anything. And even if he's not here with you, Chat's strength is in your heart."

Marinette brushed her midnight blue bangs to the side, then smiled warmly back at Tikki, "Thank you, I love you Tikki."

"And I, you!" the kwami sang as she nuzzled against Marinette's cheek, "Now hurry back out there, we need to be alert!"

….

Alya was talking to Nino in front of the girls' cabin. They looked serious, Nino's arms folded while Alya had her hands on her hips. Her eyes lit up when she saw Marinette approach. Nino's frown deepened.

"Adrien's not with you?" he questioned Marinette. She couldn't stop the stupid flush growing on her face, but she shook her head, "No, I was just at the bathroom."

Nino tilted his head to the side in irritation, "the dude's always running off places, even here. I was just telling Alya that I don't think swimming is such a good idea right now." He lifted his arm and pointed in the distance, where far off there were dark, grey clouds. "Looks like a storm's coming."

"Juleka and I just told everyone else the same thing!" Rose called as she skipped over to the trio, "So everyone's just going to hang out and play games in their cabins. Juleka is getting some card games ready in ours if you wanted to join! For sure we have Ivan and Mylene joining us too. I think Chloe and Sabrina are going to do their nails but I don't know if they want others joining them or not.."

"We'll decide once we find Adrien! Thanks for the offer though," Alya replied, and Nino piped in, "Have you happened to see him anywhere? Adrien?"

Rose shook her head, and then waved goodbye to them. Nino said he was going to go and look for Adrien in the bathrooms, then they'd join the girls in their cabin once Adrien was found.

"Let us know if you need help finding him," Marinette called to Nino as he walked away.

5 minutes later, the girls heard a knock on their door. Alya answered and let in an embarrassed Adrien and a snickering Nino. Nino said something about Adrien needing to eat more fiber and the blonde boy just punched him with a pout. Both the girls giggled and Adrien just groaned and plopped himself down on Marinette's bed next to her. The way he sprawled out reminded her of Chat Noir, and for a second she felt dread realizing her kitty wouldn't be here to help her if something happened. When he looked into Marinette's wide eyes and red face, he sat up, looking a little shocked at himself, losing the burst of confidence that he had as he had laid beside Marinette like he'd done so many times in his cat form.

"Sorry" he mumbled with an awkward grin, scratching the back of his head nervously. He cursed himself for going out of character, but Marinette didn't seem to notice too much.

The boys looked around the room admiring the decorations the girls had come up with earlier. A funny looking Ladybug was taped over Alya's bed, her pose in superman style with sparkles around her face. Adrien looked at the Chat Noir above Marinette's head. It was drawn much better than Alya's, a lot more detailed too as it was even shaded. Paper Chat was sitting cross legged, winking and with little hearts around his head. Adrien's heart melted a little, at the thought that maybe Marinette like Chat a little.

"Dude, you have the hots for Chat Noir or something?" Nino teased Adrien.  
"W-what?" He stammered, realizing her warm his face had gotten. Marinette hid behind her knees, starting to regret her paper kitty. "If anything, Marinette does!" Alya laughed.

"I do not!" Marinette protested, her face also getting hot. The couple laughed at their flustered friends.

When the laughter calmed down, the kids talked about what they should do and decided to go and check out Rose and Juleka's gathering. It was 2 cabins down from theirs, loud laughter and music coming from it. They knocked on the door, and then were eagerly invited in by Max. Everyone but Chloe and Sabrina were inside, yet somehow fitting. It was extremely stuffed of teenagers, they had to squish their way in and the four awkwardly sat on an edge of the bed that was semi-vacant. The bed already had Nathaniel, Kim and Alix fit on it. Nathaniel was drawing, his sketchbook propped on the wall since he had no room in his lap. He was drawing what looked like all the students in the room, except everyone had masks and fancy, masquerade attire on. Marinette complimented him on it and he blushed sheepishly, thanking her. The window was open to let in fresh, cool air. Snacks were passed around; and some kids were trying to play a game of Uno but without any room it didn't really work out. Adrien's side was pressed against Marinette's in the tight space, she could feel his heat radiating off of him and smell his gentle cologne. She fought the urge to turn and inhale him.

Suddenly, she felt something poking her opposite hip. Marinette peaked into her bag, checking on Tikki. Her big, violet eyes were even larger in fear, her body was shaking and she tried to mouth something to Marinette. "What?" Marinette mouthed back, and she barely heard the harsh whisper of "danger!"

Just as she understood Tikki's silent words, the door to the cabin swung open. At the entrance stood Ms. Bustier, her body slouched and breathing heavy. Her red hair was wild, tangled and matted around her ghostly pale face. Sweat dripped off her forehead, her eyes shut tight. Somebody stopped the music, everyone in too much shock to speak.

"Ms. Bustier?" Mylene called out, cowering behind Ivan.

Their teacher opened her eyes, and throughout the tiny cabin students began screaming. Instead of her usually bright, aqua eyes; there was a brown, shiny goo protruding from her eye sockets. Out came two long antennae like shapes, little black eyes on the ends of them. Her mouth opened but before she could speak, thick transparent slime burst out of her as she gagged and sprayed the closest students to her; Alix and Kim.

Adrien gasped in horrible disgust, "She's like a-a slug?"

 **Incase anyone was wondering, I HATE slugs. They terrify me, more than anything really. *Cringe***


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm sorry about the short chapters, the next one will be longer- I promise! :) I love you all! And don't feel shy to leave constructive criticism, I want this to be better as I'm not super confident at all about my writing but I don't know how exactly to better myself. .**

Marinette needed to get out of there. The screams were deafening as the students around her were panicking, she was shoved against the wall and lost her breath. Adrien pushed his way towards the window, punching the screen mesh that was lined along the frame of the open window. Nino helped him tear the screen away and then they started to pull students out.

"Everyone, get out this way!" Adrien yelled, barely audible over the shrieks.

Him and Nino helped those nearest to them out. Marinette gently shoved Juleka and Rosa towards the window, and got herself closer to Kim and Alix. The two were on the floor, their bodies wriggling about and trapped in the goo. Ms. Bustier in her sluggish form was hovering over them, her body slowly getting closer. She reached out to Alix, and put her mouth on the girl's slime-covered face. Alix's eyes were shut closed, her mouth opened but no sound came out. Marinette watched in horror for a second, but her Ladybug reflexes soon kicked in. She ran at Ms. Bustier, knocking her off of Alix. The slug woman turned to Marinette. She opened her mouth again, about to spray Marinette with the same nasty substance, but she barely missed as Marinette was pulled to the ground behind a bed.

"Get out of here, Marinette!" Adrien said to her earnestly, his face flushed but his eyes didn't have the same terror that the others had. If anything, he looked determined. They were the only two teens left in the cabin, not including the victims. She was sprawled on Adrien, her hands on his chest and their faces inches apart.

She shook her head, a blush rising as she immedietly stood back up, "Not without Alix and Kim!"

Ms. Bustier was back to sucking on Alix's face, it was such a weird thing to see and Marinette's stomach lurched. Adrien grabbed a Rose's pink backpack from the floor, and chucked it at Ms. Bustier's head. As the woman staggered, both ran forward and grabbed their classmates.

"This is disgusting," Adrien gasped as he threw Kim's wriggling body over his shoulders. Marinette did the same to Alix, gagging slightly to the touch of her slimy friend. The two ran out the cabin's open door heading for the bathrooms where the others had hidden. Nino was waiting outside of the men's bathroom, calling for them to hurry. Marinette glanced over her shoulder, Ms. Bustier was following but she moved slowly and struggled with each step. Her mouth open and she spurted the substance, but missed Adrien's feet by yards as the slime didn't reach very far. They all hurried into the bathroom, Nino slamming the door shut behind them. There was a loud click as he turned the lock on the heavy metal door.

"Oh no!" Marinette gulped, looking around the room.

"What is it, Mari?" Alya asked, shaking as she gripped Nino's arm.

"Chloe and Sabrina are still at their cabins!" She groaned and slumped to the floor, needing to catch her breath. She tried rubbing away the slime that clung to her neck.

"What do we do about these two?" Max motioned to their goo covered classmates who's wriggling had ceased. Their bodies moved up and down as they breathed, but it had slowed to a concerning rate. He added nervously, "I don't think they're getting much oxygen."

Marinette put her head against her knees, trying to block out the noises around her. Some were crying, she could her Nathaniel pacing. Some were talking but she ignored their words. She needed to think. Her classmates needed her, needed Ladybug, but she had to figure out a way to bring Ladybug here without revealing herself. And she really had to speak with Tikki.

"I'll get them," Adrien suddenly said.

"I'll go with you," Nino said bravely, standing beside his friend, but Adrien shook his head, "No, you need to stay here. Stay with Alya, she needs you."

Alya was beside Marinette, both looked to the boys in fear, "You don't have to go Adrien, neither of you do."

Marinette stood up, "But someone needs to get Chloe and Sabrina. Before Ms. Bustier does." Adrien nodded in agreement, "I'll be right back I promise! Lock the door behind me."

With that, he bolted out, ignoring the protests of Nino who was held back by Alya. The door closed slowly, and Marinette realized this was her chance.

"I'm going too!" she said and dashed out the door.

"Marinette no!" Alya screamed after her, her heart hurting at the anguish in Alya's tone, but she kept running.

Adrien was at the girl's cabin already, unaware that Marinette had followed. Ms. Bustier was nowhere in sight. Marinette ducked behind another cabin, opening her bag for Tikki.

"Tikki what should we do?" Marinette questioned.

The little kwami looked scared, "It's not an akuma, so I don't know if you'll be able to cleanse whatever has gotten her. But you should transform. You'll fight better as Ladybug and we'll have to figure something out as we go along."

Marinette nodded, "Tikki, transform me!" The kwami flew into her earrings and the transformation proceeded in a flash of pink light.

Ladybug ran behind the cabins, over to the one that belonged to Chloe and Sabrina. She peeked in the window, and saw Sabrina holding Chloe's bags. Adrien looked stressed, trying to say something to Chloe who was shaking her head. She put her head against the wall to listen closer."

"You do _not_ need all this stuff, Chloe. Please, we need to go before Ms. Bustier shows up!" Adrien insisted in frustration.

"I'm at least taking this," Chloe huffed, shoving another bag to Adrien.

"Fine, but let's go!" he headed towards the door. Movement to her left caught Ladybug's attention. Coming from the bushes, Ms. Bustier sauntered out. Now slime was all around her body, and her stomach looked painfully bloated. She didn't notice the still Ladybug, but ambled over to the doorway of Chloe and Sabrina.

Adrien noticed the slug woman first, his eyes widening at her appearance. He dropped Chloe's bag, and yelled for the girls to run to the men's bathroom. They ran loudly, screaming and sobbing; Sabrina also dropped Chloe's other bags.

Ms. Bustier opened her mouth, but before she could spray them Ladybug's yoyo wrapped around her squishy body and pulled her back. Marinette was hidden behind the cabin again as she pulled the woman back with her, silently praying that no one noticed. She could hear Alya's voice scream, "Marinette's still out there!"

Ms. Bustier felt much heavier now, she fought against the yoyo, trying to pull away but Ladybug's grip was tight. The woman gave in and then turned to face Ladybug, grabbing at the yoyo and pulling Ladybug towards her instead. She raised a dripping arm to swing at Ladybug's face, but a flash of silver blocked the arm, causing the woman to drop the yoyo as it swung back to the hero. Ladybug jumped back out of Ms. Bustier's arm reach. The silver rod retracted back into the forest.

"Trying to slug it out without me, my lady?" a voice said mischievously from the trees.

"Chat!?" Ladybug gasped, dodging a spray of slime as she leaped into a tree beside the handsome cat superhero.

"Looks like you could use an extra paw," he winked at her, wrapping an arm around her waist, "I happened to be in the area."

Before Ladybug could question him or worry about her own identity, they needed to take care of the nasty slug woman approaching them.


	6. Chapter 6

**Just wanted to say how incredibly sorry I am for abandoning this story for SO long. But I'm back and really hoping to complete this sooner rather than later. Here's a long chapter full of superheroes, fluff, and even angst, take it as my apology!**

Ms. Bustier, in her barely recognizable slug form, stretched open her mouth again to release another slime bullet. Chat Noir tightened his grip on Ladybug's waist and she responded by wrapping her arms around him. He kicked off of the branch they were on and leapt higher into the tree's branches.

"Any idea how we beat this thing?" Chat asked her as they caught their breath.

Marinette's heart was warm, despite the terror she was feeling from the entire situation. Chat was here. And while she had no idea what to do about this new enemy that had taken over their teacher, she felt so much more hope than she had moments ago. With him beside her, they had a chance.

She sighed, releasing her arms from around him, "Honestly I have no idea," her voice got a little higher as she looked away from Chat, "I mean I don't even know what's going on, I-uh was camping with Family!? And heard some screams so I hurried this way and came upon this!"

If Chat was suspicious, he didn't show it, "Well it's not an akuma, this is different. My friends and I noticed she seemed off earlier and now she's this disgusting slug beast! But now that you're here with me, my lady, I feel brave as a lion!" He gave her a playful wink and she giggled gently. Her reaction seemed to surprise him a little, and he turned away before she could see him blush.

"First things first, let's try to contain her!" Ladybug stated, "That way she can't harm anyone else and we can maybe figure out a way to get her back to normal?"

Chat grew serious, looking down at the stumbling giant slug below them. It was completely dark brown and realistic, not a trace of the teacher left in it except for a large purple spot on its back like Ms. Bustier had, had on her neck. Slowly, it seemed to be attempting to climb the tree, but with no success yet.

"Let's hurry," Chat Noir said, crouching down preparing himself to jump down, "There are students who were contaminated and there's the possibility they're losing oxygen."

Marinette wondered how Chat knew about the students, but she reminded herself now was not the time to be worrying about that. Chat was right, if Alix and Kim were going to survive they needed to move now. Together, they hopped down the branches and landed behind the slug.

"Lucky charm!" Ladybug cried, summoning whatever magic item may be able to help them.

A large, black polka dotted red salt shaker landed in her arms. She gulped, wouldn't the salt hurt her teacher? Then, she remembered creating salt mazes as a child for slugs to go through. It was cruel, but it gave her the perfect idea.

"Chaton, can you lead her a little further into the woods?" Ladybug asked.

He saluted her and yelled, "On it!" Then ran head on for the slug.

"Hey slow poke, catch me if you can!" With his baton, he smacked the slug right in the antenna, then booked it for the forest.

Slug Bustier followed rather quickly considering she was a slug. Chat ran deeper into the forest, hollering insults at the slug as he went. Ladybug followed them close behind, jumping from tree to tree silently as she attempted to go unnoticed.

"That's good Chat!" Ladybug shouted as she dropped to the grassy floor. She sprinted around the slug in the shape of a large oval, pouring out a salt trail behind her until Ms. Bustier was completely trapped in a salt ring.

Chat placed a hand on Ladybugs shoulder, his other hand pointed mockingly at the semi-frustrated looking slug, "Looks like you've been a-salt-ed!"

Ladybug groaned, "Okay so she's trapped, but now what? There's no Akuma for me to cleanse, and I only have about two minutes left until my transformation wears off."

Chat Noir opened his mouth to answer but then froze. His face went blank for a moment and then he said, "Are you sure?"

"Huh?" Ladybug tilted her head.

"Sorry," Chat replied, "My Kwami is talking to me, and he wants me to cataclysm her.."

"No!" Ladybug gasped, "That could kill her!"

" _Marinette, trust Chat Noir and his Kwami"_ Tikki's sweet voice said sternly in Marinette's head.

Chat looked troubled, but Ladybug bopped his nose comfortingly, "I trust you, and my Kwami trusts your Kwami, so let's see what happens."

He nodded, then yelled, "Cataclysm!" Chat ran at the slug, slamming his palm straight on to the purple blotch on its back."

A rush of energy bursted from the slug, sending Chat Noir straight into Ladybug. They fell together, eyes wide in shock at the sight before them. The salt shaker was now a black puddle of goo. A large, sickly looking black bubble formed around Slug Bustier, and then, it popped. The two heroes covered their faces as a nasty slime sprayed everywhere. Then, where the slug once was, sat a worn out and slime covered Ms. Bustier.

Ladybug's earrings gave one last warning beep, "I have to go Chaton, I think things are okay now and hopefully we won't need to see each other again until we are both back home."

"Wait!" Chat called out, but Ladybug had already sped off.

"Let's get you back to your students," Chat Noir said as he helped up his disoriented teacher. He led her back to the camp grounds, then jumped away to release his own transformation.

"You both did very well!" Tikki hugged Marinette's cheeks as they sat below a tree, just on the edge of the campsite. Marinette still had slime all over her and she grumbled in distaste. "You should hurry back now, I'm sure everyone's worried about you and we can always talk about this later."

As she ran to the bathrooms, the students started flowing out. Alya screamed in joy when she saw Marinette and ran for her, hugging her even though she was all slimy.

"Oh gross, girl did you get slimed out there? I told you to stay with us!" Alya shook her hands violently to shake the slime off.

"Uh yeah!" Marinette apologized, "I'm really sorry! Are Kim and Alix okay?"

Alya nodded, and the two walked over to Kim and Alix. They had their arms around each other for support, they were exhausted but otherwise unharmed. Nino and Adrien ran to the girls, Adrien also covered in slime like Marinette was.

"Did Mari get slimed out there too! God, you guys need to stay put next time!" Nino said in frustration. Adrien looked sheepish but Alya roughly said, "hopefully there won't be a next time!"

Ms. Bustier found her students by the bathroom, and ran to them with tears in her eyes, "I'm so sorry," she sobbed, "I had no control and I never meant to hurt any of you! Thank goodness Ladybug and Chat Noir were there to save me!"

Marinette stiffened while the other students gasped, "They were here!?" Alya exclaimed. "Oh my god and I missed them damnit!" The students were now excited, all remaining fear gone as they trusted their super heroes to protect them. Adrien and Marinette both looked worried still, scared for whatever may come next.

...

That evening, everyone was gathered around a large, roaring campfire. The flames were hot and comforting and Marinette had relaxed considerably over the last few hours. The students were loud, telling stories, laughing, and roasting marshmallows. But Adrien still seemed upset, so much that Marinette began to notice. She got up from her spot besides Alya, walked past Nino, and softly sat herself down next to the sad, blonde boy.

Gently, she asked him, "Adrien, is everything alright?"

He looked up, coming out of his little trance. He gave her a smile, but his eyes were sad and shiny, not just from the heat of the fire. And despite the warmth, he shivered, "Hey Mari.. I'm okay. Just a little down but I'm okay."

Marinette almost blushed to Adrien calling her by her nickname, but she was too concerned in that moment to be flustered by it. She shyly moved closer to him, and placed a hand on his knee.

"I'm always here for you, if you ever need someone to talk to or anything," her voice was just a whisper and a dark blush bloomed on her cheeks.

To her surprise, he took her hand from his knee and held it between both of his hands. His hands were large and cold, and he just held her hand for a few moments as they both sat in silence. Marinette's face was completely red and her heart rate quickened but externally she remained calm, despite the fact that she wanted to squeal.

"Thank you," he finally said, so quiet she almost didn't hear him. He held her hand a little tighter, his voice cracking sadly, "When I found out my dad was Hawkmoth, it was almost as painful as losing my mom.. And I've been okay, I'm not alone and so I can get through it. But with this new monster taking over Ms. Bustier today, I'm just reminded of how horrible my father was.. Yet despite that, I still really miss him. Miss her. And it's hard. Really hard."

Marinette felt tears fall on to her wrist. Her heart ached so badly for the poor boy, he didn't deserve any of this and she wished more than ever she could take all of his pains away. She took her hand away, but instead replaced it with a large hug. She held Adrien in her arms the best she could, and felt him shake as he began to break down. Her hand rubbed his back and she whispered soothingly in his ears, telling him everything was going to be okay. Her eyes were moist, and as she wiped her eyes she realized the campfire had gone silent, some of the students watching them while others looked away respectfully. She had eye contact with Chloe, who immediately looked away but not in spite, for her face looked more heartbroken than any of the others.

He was so sad, and Marinette felt desperate to make him feel better this very moment. She looked around, and noticed beside her was a bag of marshmallows.

"Adrien?" She said into his ear after he had seemed to calmed down.

He looked at her, his beautiful green eyes shining and slightly red from crying. She smiled at him and asked, "Have you ever had a s'more before?"

It was an unexpected question, his mouth opened into a little "o" in mild shock. Quickly and almost childlike, Adrien shook his head. Marinette moved away from him, letting him out of her arms. She turned to pick up the bag of marshmallows.

Popping one into her mouth, she cheekily said, "boy have I got a treat for you!"

As she roasted the marshmallow, the other students went back to their happy banter. Nino begged Alya to make a s'more for him as well, but she teasingly told him no because "it will look sad compared to Marinette's s'more perfection." The flattered baker's daughter giggled and bashfully promised she'd make each of them one after she was finished with Adriens. From her pink camping backpack, she brought out a chocolate bar and a box of graham crackers. After roasting the marshmallow to its full, beautiful toasty potential, she delicately laid it on a piece of chocolate that was layered on a graham cracker square. Then she sandwiched it with another graham cracker, and presented her masterpiece to Adrien proudly.

The three friends eagerly leaned forward to watch Adrien eat his first s'more. Marinette took out her camera while Alya took out her phone to record the moment. Adrien suddenly felt nervous, unsure of what to expect because his friends were so weirdly excited. With a deep breath, he brought the s'more to his mouth and took a large bite.

There was a lovely snap of the cracker as he bit it, and then his soft munching. The friends leaned in even closer, waiting for a reaction. Adrien's face was blank, and stayed that way until he swallowed.

His eyes closed, his cheeks blissfully rosy and he sighed dreamily. Then he turned, put a hand on Marinette's shoulder and sighed, "Mari I could kiss you."

Marinette squeaked, jumping in her seat and spluttered frantically. Alya and Nino started cracking up and Adrien just continued to eat his s'more, seemingly unaware of what he'd just said or not caring that he'd said it. Mari stared wide eyed, almost waiting for what he'd do next. Adrien finished the s'more, rested his head on the blushing girls shoulder, and sighed again pleasantly.

"That was heaven!" He sang.

"Our turn next!" Nino and Alya shouted, pushing Adrien off of his seat and scrambling into his place next to Marinette. She giggled at poor flustered Adrien, but left him on the dirt floor as she began making s'mores for her other dear friends.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day started out to be semi uneventful, as far as slug transforming teachers go. Ms. Bustier kept her students busy, though she spent most of the day resting as she wasn't feeling her 100% best just yet. They started the day off with lots of pancakes for breakfast, made by the girls. Ms. Bustier assigned meals by gender, switching off for each meal. Adrien had said the pancakes were the best he'd ever had, and Nino teasingly suggested he marry Marinette since it was her family's recipe the girls used. After breakfast, Ms. Bustier had the students do a "Nature Scavenger Hunt," having them find local plants around the campsite. It was fun for the first five minutes, but after that it was groan inducing work for the kids. After mostly completing the scavenger hunt, she had them do five study sketches on their objects of choosing. Some of the students got really into it; such as Nathaniel who drew a bench, a tree, some bushes, a rock, and one of the cabins, all of which also just _happened_ to have Marinette around them.

The boys prepared lunch, just simple sub sandwiches. Ms. Bustier allowed the students some free time, and went to take a nap in her cabin. Marinette, Alya, Adrien, and Nino went to the boys' cabin and played card games. There was a soft knock, and Kim walked in.

"Tonight some of us are sneaking to the lake for a night swim! You guys in?"

Marinette was about to object but Nino shouted, "Hell yeah!"

...

"Marinette, are you sure this is such a good idea?" Tikki whispered as the girl put on sweats over her swim clothes.

Mari sighed, "I know, but everyone else is going and it'll be weird being all alone in the cabin without Alya."

"Just please be careful," Tikki chirped from the folds of Marinette's hoodie.

The girls met with the rest of their classmates at the trails edge. Even Chloe and Sabrina showed up. The night was warm despite how late it was, and the stars were shining bright. Everyone walked down together to the short trail that led to the lake.

It was a fairly small lake, more like a pond than anything else. The area surrounding it was low grass, but to the side of the lake was a patch of water bushes and cattails. In front of them was a large, wooden dock that they could jump off of. Even though it was around midnight, the moon and stars lit up the area beautifully and they could all see fairly well. Everyone made an organized pile of their warm clothes, then they arranged a race.

Rose held up a little white paper flag; Juleka stood behind her in a cute, black crocheted poncho rather than swimwear. Her (Rose) sweet, high voice roughly 'whispered', "On your marks, get set... GO!"

The teens ran for the dock, Sabrina carrying Chloe on her back ran a few steps and then tripped. Nathaniel helped them back up and then awkwardly tried to catch up to the rest of them. Max stood at the end of the dock, ready to witness the winner's victory. Kim, Alix, Marinette, and Adrien were all just about tied.

"You're Ladybug!" Marinette thought, "You can beat these rookies no problem!" She leaned forward, and took the lead.

Adrien's jaw dropped at Marinette's speed, but if anything she inspired him to push even harder. Now the two of them were neck and neck, just feet away from the docks edge. With a huge leap, they both jumped together. Time seemed to slow in those last few seconds, huge grins on both of their faces as they glanced at one other. Something felt so _familiar_ in that moment, but neither of them could think of what exactly. There was a loud SPLASH! Followed by more splashes as the others flew in from behind them.

"So who won?" Kim demanded as he gasped for air, treading the water ungracefully.

Max adjusted his glasses, pondering for a moment before he announced, "It was arduous to conclude a winner, but I've devised that the winner is... Adrien!"

Everyone cheered and splashed, and then tried mustering there giggles as Kim tried shushing them quieter. Marinette swam to Adrien's side to congratulate him.

"Thanks!" He smiled brightly, looking so handsome in the moonlight that Marinette felt breathless, "You did great yourself! And I love your swimsuit!"

She blushed brightly and Alya came up behind her and announced, "She made it! She made mine too! Isn't she amazing!"

Adrien's mouth widened into an even larger grin, "Wow Marinette, you're incredible! I could see you working for my dad someday." He gave her a cheeky wink and then swam to Nino who was calling for him.

"Alya did you hear that?!" Marinette squealed, "He said I'm good enough to work for his dad, _the_ Gabriel Agreste!"

Alya patted Marinette's cheeks fondly, sharing in the excitement. They swam around, played a game of water tag and overall had a fantastic time.

That is, until Sabrina started screaming from underneath the dock.

"Somebody help her!" Chloe shrieked from above her, hanging over the docks edge.

Marinette determinedly swam for Sabrina. It was hard to tell what was going on. Sabrina just kept screaming and splashing and looked almost as if she was being pulled down. When Marinette got close, she realized that Sabrina was covered in dark green, warty toads. They seemed to be weighing her down, latching on to her as she frantically cried. Marinette grabbed her hand, and tried pulling her away from the dock while Adrien swam behind Sabrina and tried pulling off the toads.

"Yuck!" He complained as his hands had a weird slimy layer stuck on them, "I was so done with slime!"

The two managed to get the toads off of Sabrina, and help her to the shore of the lake. Chloe ran to her, a bright blue, fluffy towel in her arms that she draped around her friend. The two girls cried and held each other while Marinette and Adrien gasped for breath.

"Thank you for saving me!" Sabrina cried, "All of a sudden I was being attacked! And you guys saved me, thank you thank yu-"

And then she passed out.

Chloe shook Sabrina's shoulders, "Sabrina?! Sabrina wake up!"

Adrien knelt beside them and put a hand on Chloe's shoulder, "Maybe let her rest. I'll carry her back to your cabin, I think she's just worn out."

The sniffling blonde girl agreed, and the three of them walked back to the trail. Adrien carried Sabrina bridal style and Chloe held Adrien's dry clothes for him. Marinette felt a little jealous watching Adrien carry Sabrina, but also felt admiration for him as he helped the two girls out. Everyone was back on land now, too afraid to go back into the water. They got dressed, and hurried back after Adrien and the girls.

...

"Mari?"

"Yes, Alya?"

The two girls lay in their separate beds, completely in darkness but both wide awake.

"I have a very bad feeling, like about what happened to Sabrina.."

Marinette sighed, snuggling Tikki under the blankets, "Me too, Alya, me too.

They were quiet again for a few more minutes before Alya whispered again, "Mari?"

"Yes?"

"You know the bruise thing that was on Ms. Bustier's neck?" Alya began, "I saw a smaller, similar looking one on Sabrina's ribs.. What if there's a new villain? Like another Hawkmoth out there?"

Marinette's mouth dropped open, and she clutched Tikki tighter in fear, "Oh god, I hope not.."

The girls went back to an uneasy silence, and eventually they both fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**As anyone following this story knows by now, I'm horrible at deadlines and commitments so I'm not even goin to bother giving you guys an estimated date for the next chapter. Sorry this one took so long though, I really am! I'm a wife and a mother and rarely do I find the motivation to write but hopefully I can give you guys more of this soon. I can't thank everyone enough though for all the follows, favorites, and reviews. You guys are the best!**

"Ms. Bustier, I'm concerned about Sabrina.. she uh, doesn't look so good.." Chloe was talking privately to her teacher the next morning at breakfast. She held her hands close to her chest nervously and whispered, "she's acting off too. She even yelled at me to leave her alone. She's never treated _me_ like that before!"

It was morning again, everyone was enjoying French toast, bacon, and eggs the best they could despite the uneasiness they all felt. Sabrina didn't show up that morning, Chloe stating she looked a little puffy and bloated, and had said Sabrina felt too tired to get up.

Ms. Bustier sighed, "I don't know what to do. We don't have any cell reception out here, the bus still won't be here for quite some time, and there's no where to really go for help. It seems that we are stranded."

The teacher got up, asking Chloe to come with her. Together they went into the cabin. Not even a minute later, Chloe began screaming hysterically and ran out of the cabin.

"Warts! She's covered in nasty, disgusting, GREEN, warts!" Chloe shrieked at no one in particular.

Everyone was upset by this news, disgust on all of their faces. Ms. Bustier hurried out afterwards. She gathered all of her students together, her face deep with concern.

"I'm going to be honest with all of you," she began with a sigh, "Sabrina looks terribly sick. I don't know how so quickly but my only guess is that whatever happened to me the other, well something similar is happening to her."

There were gasps around the circle. Marinette felt Tikki at her side press against her. Alya brought a hand to her mouth, Adrien frowned very deeply, and Mylene began to sob.

"We still have over a week until the bus is coming for us," Ms. Bustier sighed, "I have no way of contacting Ladybug and Chat Noir, but I have an idea that hopefully can help prevent Sabrina from transforming into any kind of monster like I had. Honestly, I have no idea if this will work but it won't hurt to try right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, so she continued, "I'll need a few willing female volunteers, but I'm hoping if we can wash Sabrina good in the showers it can help the warts disappear or at the least get off the layer of sweat and grime on her.."

To everyone's surprise, Chloe's hand shot straight up immediately, "I'm Sabrina's only best friend, so I think it's fit that I be there for her since she will need me."

While the wording wasn't sweet, there was a blush on her sad worried face and everyone could feel the care behind her words. Marinette and Alya looked at each other, and with a silent nod in agreement they too volunteered to help out. Ms. Bustier was grateful, and asked the girls to put on there least liked clothes and meet her in 15 minutes at the showers.

In their cabin, Alya and Marinette changed into sweats and plain tshirts. Tikki hid in Marinette's pant pocket while the two girls talked nervously.

"Do you think this is actually going to work? To stop her from becoming into some kind of slug monster too?" Alya asked.

Marinette bit her lip and laid back against her bed, pulling a pillow over her face and sighing, "I'm hopeful, I'm happy to try and help out but I have no clue."

Alya jumped off of her own bed and landed onto Mari's. Marinette squeaked in surprise, then laughed as Alya's face looked way too serious.

"Girl I'm serious! Do you think? I mean what if.. what if those warts are contagious?" Alya whispered as she snuggled up next to Marinette on the bed.

Marinette cringed, and looked straight into Alya'a eyes. In mock horror she gasped, "Then Nino will never kiss you again!"

Alya grabbed the pillow off of Marinette and smacked her with it, the two girls laughing freely for a few more moments before they had to go.

Once at the showers, Ms. Bustier, Chloe, and what was assumed to be Sabrina stood there. Sabrina looked awful, her face was swollen and her glasses looked as if they were going to fall off her face, hair flat and greasy and she was incredibly sweaty. Her face and arms were covered in green, pussy warts.

"Don't look at me like that!" Sabrina snapped at Alya, her voice rough and almost croaky.

"Sorry," Alya winced.

"Now come Sabrina, we are going to help you clean up a little." Ms. Bustier said gently as she led the girls into the female shower room. She carried with her a bag filled with towels and soaps. Sabrina huffed irritably, but otherwise didn't say anything.

Ms. Bustier turned on one of the shower heads. It was an old public shower, the floors and walls all a light brown clay like texture and one wall had a row of five shower heads. She took one of Sabrina's swollen hands carefully and led her over.

"I know this is going to be embarrassing, but we are here to help you clean up. We all care about you very much and we promise to not be judgmental, right ladies?" Ms. Bustier gave the other three girls a firm look. They all nodded quickly.

Ms. Bustier turned back to Sabrina, "Do you need help removing your clothes dear? Please keep on your underwear but we need to help you wash up."

Sabrina scowled, her puffy face looking more frog like as she attempted to pull off the camping hoodie she'd been wearing. She struggled a bit and with an obnoxious blow of her lips she gave up.

"I need help." She stated simply while avoiding everyone's eyes.

Ms. Bustier respectfully helped Sabrina pull off the hoodie and tshirt underneath, then as politely as she could she helped Sabrina step out of her leggings as well. The girl stood there in bright purple undies and a white sports bra. Her body was clearly bloated, and her whole stomach, back, and legs had warts as well. On her right rib was a dark, painful looking purple bruise similar to the one Ms. Bustier had, had on her neck before.

Marinette stopped herself from gasping at Sabrina's appearance, but her jaw still dropped slightly, "Sabrina, are you in pain?"

Sabrina turned slowly to Marinette, her voice deeper then before, "I am _fine_ , Marinette."

"Alya, can you do me a favor and run to my cabin? Inside I have a little stool that will be perfect for Sabrina to sit on," Ms. Bustier asked; Alya immediately agreed and hurried off to fetch the stool.

It only took a minute and then Alya was back, the wooden stool in her arms. She was slightly out of breath but carefully placed the stool into the stream of water from the shower head. Sabrina sat on it, still avoiding to look at her companions. Ms. Bustier pulled out wash rags and shower gel, giving them to the three girls.

Chloe went first, walking behind Sabrina and tenderly placing the cloth against her back. She rubbed it but only for a moment as right away the warts started popping and a green/yellow puss poured out. The blonde girl shrieked in fear, jumping away from her friend shamelessly.

Ms. Bustier gave Chloe a glare, and then asked Sabrina softly, "Sabrina did that hurt?" The red haired girl shook her head no, her green eyes barely visible as her face was even more puffy.

Marinette turned to Alya, "ready for this?"

Alya gave a sympathetic look at Sabrina, but then whispered to Marinette, "sorry Mari, but I just don't think I can stomach this. You and Ms. Bustier are on your own."

The bluenette nodded, and with a deep breath she took Chloe's spot behind Sabrina while Ms. Bustier knelt down beside the redhead and began scrubbing her legs. Sabrina's eyes closed in contentment as she was cleaned. The warts were all popping as they scrubbed her rough skin. Marinette felt Tikki shaking, the longer she was beside Sabrina the more Tikki shook in fear. It made Marinette incredibly nervous and she felt herself rushing while she tried to stay gentle.

"I can take care of the rest, thank you for your help Marinette," Ms. Bustier said, sensing Marinette's odd nervousness.

Mari nodded, then joined Alya and Chloe who stood off to the side waiting. Ms. Bustier shampooed Sabrina's hair, and then rinsed her off and turned off the shower. She got out a dry towel and carefully patted the girl dry. Sabrina didn't look much better, her body had ballooned up even more and while the warts were popped her body looked blistered and painful. The bruise on her rib was very prominent and horrendous to even imagine having.

Chloe came back over to help Sabrina put on new clean clothes. The four headed back to their own cabins to join their classmates. Sabrina went back to bed, Chloe stayed with her to keep an eye on her. Alya returned to their cabin, while Marinette said she needed to go to the bathroom real fast.

"I'll only be a minute, go on ahead!" Marinette insisted after Alya offered to wait for her.

In the bathrooms, Tikki flew out to speak to her chosen, "Marinette be ready! I have a bad feeling about this and soon you and Chat Noir may need to fight again!"

"How soon?" Marinette asked with worry.

"Very!" Tikki exclaimed, "while you were washing her I could sense this darkness, so strongly! Almost as strong as when Ms. Bustier had started turning into a slug!"

Just as Marinette was about to respond, they could hear screaming outside again, "I think you're right Tikki, Spots on!"

The kwami flew into Marinette's earrings and Ladybug was transformed. She ran out of the bathrooms to find her classmates running around the campsite in a frenzy. Sabrina was in the center by the fire pit. She stood hunched over, her body huge and skin turning green. Her hair was falling off of her head, and glasses were absorbed into her face. The warts were back too.

Alya noticed Ladybug first, "Ladybug you're here!" The joy on her face gave Ladybug a rush of pride. Others soon noticed too and ran to Ladybug.

"Can you help Sabrina!?"

"How did you fix Ms. Bustier? Can you do it to Sabrina too?"

"Is this an akuma!?"

"Where's Chat Noir?"

"Dude!" Nino yelled, catching Ladybug's attention.

Nino was looking at Adrien in bewilderment, who was looking incredibly guilty as he was heading towards his cabin.

"Dude," Nino repeated, "where the heck are you going?! Ladybug is here!"

A bright blush spread across Adrien's face and he grinned sheepishly, "Uh yeah I know I uh, just gotta pee!" And with that he sprinted behind the cabin. Nino muttered something about Adrien and crazy and then stood besides Alya who was star struck in front of Ladybug.

"Ladybug!" Chloe grabbed on to the superhero's arm hastily, "Please help Sabrina! I think she's in pain!"

They all turned back to the girl, who was now on her hands and knees and coughing hard. Her clothes seemed to be dissolving into her body, and before there eyes she became a giant, wart covered toad. She croaked, and looked up at them. In a single leap, she was on top of Ladybug. The students screamed, all of them running away. Alya reached out to help Ladybug but Nino pulled her away.

"I'd toadally stay off this bug if I were you," a familiar voice called out.

Chat Noir ran out and with a sturdy swing of his baton he knocked the toad off of Ladybug. Ladybug gasped for breath as the heavy weight was off of her, and Chat Noir helped her up.

"Sorry I'm late, my lady," he said as he took her hand and kissed her knuckles, "Are you alright?"

She pulled her hand away and poked his noise, "I'm alright now, thanks to you minou!"

Toad Sabrina leaped back at them, but this time the two heroes dodged the giant amphibian. She opened her mouth and a long sticky tongue shot at them. Ladybug managed to snap her yo-yo out in time, it hit the tongue loudly and sent it back into Sabrina's mouth.

"We need to lead her away from the campsite," Ladybug said to Chat Noir.

He nodded in agreement, and the two sprinted down towards the woods.

"Help!" Rose screeched from behind the heroes.

To their dismay, Sabrina had in fact NOT followed them and instead decided to charge at students that were still outside. Rose was wrapped up in the giant pink tongue, and to everyone's horror Sabrina pulled Rose inside of her mouth. There was a shocked moment of silence, and then Sabrina spat out Rose on to the dirt floor.

Juleka ran for her friend, and as she did Sabrina's tongue shot out again. This time ready, Ladybug countered it with her yo-yo and wrapped the tongue up in its string. Ladybug pulled back to let go, and the tongue shot back into Sabrina's mouth and had enough force to send her flying back. Juleka helped Rose up, but gasped loudly and backed away from the petite blonde girl. Her hands and arms had warts similar to Sabrina's early ones, except these were rapidly spreading and growing to other parts of her body. Quickly, her entire body was swelling up and her flesh began turning into a sickening green. In a matter of only 30 seconds, Rose resembled a large (but still smaller than Sabrina) blown up toad shaped balloon. She lay on the floor unable to move, and Juleka hovered a hand over her friend's face, too scared to touch her.

"Don't touch her," Ladybug warned, "it could be contagious!"

Juleka backed away, looking so distraught and helpless as to what to do to help Rose.

Ms. Bustier was back outside, rushing the remaining students to get inside a building and hide. Juleka, Kim, and Max obeyed and hurried after their teacher, Juleka regretfully leaving behind Rose.

Sabrina was back up this time lashing her tongue out at Chat Noir. He used his baton to smack it away, and then jumped on top of the toad. Ladybug tried to wrap her yo-yo around Sabrina to keep her from going towards the cabin where Ms. Bustier and the others had ran to, but she was strong and dragged Ladybug along with her. With a giant leap, Ladybug lost her grip on the yo-yo string and fell ungracefully into the dirt.

Sabrina stopped, turned back and again shot her tongue at Ladybug. Chat Noir tried to stop it but lost his balance as Sabrina jumped into the air again. He fell off to the side, and to his horror watched Ladybug get pulled into Sabrina's mouth.

She was spat out after a few seconds, and Ladybug rolled herself away from the frog and tried to get up. Her body was feeling weak and numb and she gravely looked up at Chat Noir who ran at her.

"Ladybug!" He yelled, kneeling down besides her and reaching for her.

"Chat stay away! Don't touch me!" She gasped out as she painfully fell on to her elbows, "You need to cataclysm her just like the slug! Her bruise spot is on the right side of her ribs!"

"Don't worry Ladybug, I'll end this," Chat promised, struggling to look away as Ladybug swelled up just as bad and quickly as Rose had.

The leathered black cat got up, determination on his face as he readied himself. Sabrina stared at him, tauntingly it seemed, watching him and waiting to see what he'd do.

"I thought I toad you not to mess with my lady," he said angrily, his deep voice almost a hiss, "Cataclysm!"

He ran at Sabrina full speed, sliding down and barely dodging her tongue as it shot out at his face. His right hand flowed with the black magic in it, ready to destroy whatever he touched. With a final dive, he stretched his hand at Sabrina and slammed his palm into the bruise at her side.

Like before, an incredibly strong invisible force of energy sent him flying back. Another grotesque black bubble formed around Sabrina and Chat Noir dove behind a tree to avoid the splash as it popped. The pop was loud and sent a shake through the ground in the are. He peaked out around the tree, to find a confused and nasty slime covered, but relatively normal looking Sabrina. Ladybug was still laying in the spot where she'd been before, back to her normal self but looking frail and exhausted.

Chat Noir ran to her side, picked her up off the floor and lifted her into his lap. He held her close, burying his face in her hair despite the slightly funky residue on her. She whimpered slightly, hand on his chest and able to feel his rapid heart beat.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered lovingly, and so passionately that it sent a chill down her spine. Ladybug wrapped her around around his waist reassuringly. They sat for a moment, before both their miraculous gave warnings for their detransformations.

"Will you be okay?" He asked her, his large green eyes so intense and full of concern.

Ladybug softened, her body feeling warm from the care he was showing her. To be honest, the last thing she wanted to do in that moment was pull away from him. But their identities were crucial and she knew they needed to go. With a nod, she got out up out of his arms and kissed his head. His mouth dropped and an adorable blush blossomed across his face.

"Thanks for saving me, Chaton." With a wink, she ran off to a wooded area.

For a moment he was speechless and frozen in place. His ring beeped again, which woke him from his daze. He got up quickly, rushing to another sections of woods and just barely making it behind trees as his transformation ended and he was back to being Adrien.

"Shut it boy," Plagg whined before Adrien could even say anything, "I do not want to hear any of this cheese about you and Ladybug. All I want to hear from your mouth is that you have some cheese for me to feast on!"

Adrien sighed dreamily, ignoring Plagg's remakes, "Plagg she kissed me! Not on the lips or anything but still she kissed me!"

Plagg held back a smirk as he rolled his eyes, "kid just feed me please."

 **I know kind of a weird place to end but I wanted to get this posted to you guys ASAP! Your reviews feed my inspiration, I'm also open to any suggestions as I'm not totally positive with where I'm going with this yet haha! Thanks so much for reading, hopefully I can get another chapter up soon!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Before I get to the next chapter, I want to respond to a few awesome reviews!**

 **ChimaTigon : I was thinking they're a little older than the show, probably about two years later.**

 **Warmach1ne32 : your review was amazing first of all. So helpful, but also a little bit of a kick in the butt which is what I've needed lol. There's a difference in what infected Sabrina and what her "power" or attack was. So she was infected by the frog things, but her attack is meant to be quick. Kind of like how Ms. Bustier had an attack when she was a slug. Hope that makes some kind of sense. And fights aren't my writing forte, I've never written any kind of action stuff before so I'm sorry to everyone if the action scenes are lacking cause I don't really know what I'm doing hahahaha. After reading your review, I immediately created a skeleton and now have a straight plan with where I'm going for this. Thanks so much for the criticism and suggestions. You're the best!**

 **FictionGirl11: love all the reviews, you're so cute and sweet, so thank you! Also love the suggestion for the villain :3**

 **WolfMistwood: funny you mention Ladybug getting hurt and needing saving ;) I have some plans happening actually that involve an "in need of help" Ladybug but you'll have to wait and see ;) haha! And don't worry! This story will definitely be continuing and have a proper ending.**

It was a new morning, and there was a rare feeling of peace among the campsite. A good nights rest helped everyone feel better, Marinette especially so no one suspected anything had happened to her. The only one on edge was Tikki, who stayed alert and anxious, but didn't actually feel any signs of anything wrong.

The day went by relatively fast. They ate delicious camp food, did some outdoor science projects, sang campfire songs, played games, relaxed, and before they knew it, it was already night time again.

"Goodnight Mari," Alya said as she placed her glasses beside her pillow and got comfortable beneath the blankets.

"Goodnight Al!" Marinette responded, faking a yawn.

Marinette waited for Alya to fall asleep. Once she heard her best friend's loud snores, she tip toed out of the bed and sneakily left the cabin. Her and Tikki snuck around the back.

"Tikki," Marinette whispered into the chill darkness, "Spots-"

"Mari!?" A familiar voice harshly whispered.

Marinette jumped a foot in the air, a surprised squeak escaping her throat, all the while Tikki flew into her chosen's pocket to hide. She spun around to face her partner, who looked equally concerned and amused at startling the girl.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, hands on her hips, "You better not have been peeping on my friend and I!"

Chat raised an eyebrow, and then snickered to himself, "Princess your accusation wounds me. But I assure you I'm not doing any kind of peeping. Just patrolling around."

Marinette stared at him suspiciously, but couldn't help the small smile on her lips.

He looked at her curiously and then asked, "what about you, Marinette? It's not safe for a princess to be out of her castle at night, so what are you doing out?"

She laughed nervously, her voice going higher as she lied, "oh you know, just getting some fresh air! Hard to sleep, with everything that's been going on you know just nervous I guess!"

Doubt flashed his face for a moment, but then he turned away to stare at the bright moon above them. She watched his face fondly, he'd grown so handsome. The moonlight made his face to appear glowing, his bright green eyes dancing in the reflections of the stars. His hair was bouncing to the breeze and Marinette felt her heart swell with both pride and another feeling she couldn't quite identify. One of his ears twitched, and then Chat Noir turned to face her.

"Anyways, it's getting late Mari and it does worry me to have you out here alone," he gave her a caring smile, one hand on his staff and the other on his hip as he stood with his chest puffed out, "would the princess like me to escort her back to her castle?"

"Sure," she sighed, accepting his outstretched hand and together they walked back to the front of the cabin.

"Sweet dreams, darling," he said, kissing her hand and then leaping away into the night with a wink.

Marinette stood there for a moment in shock. Her face felt hot and her heart was pounding loudly. _Darling_?

"Excuse me, Marinette, Darling?" Tikki sneered up at the girls embarrassed face.

"Huh?" Marinette choked out.

Tikki giggled, "Aren't we going to go patrol?"

"Oh!" Marinette's face turned focused, but the blush remained on her cheeks as she said quietly, "Tikki, spots on!"

...

Ladybug found Chat Noir sitting at the edge of the dock over the lake. The moonlight reflected on the lake just as beautifully as it had the night her and her classmates had gone swimming, except this time it felt much more serene and peaceful with just her and Chat Noir. She quietly sat down beside her partner, waiting for him to break the silence.

"Nice of you to join me, my lady," he said flashing her a grin and gesturing towards the water below them, "care for a midnight swim?"

She pushed him playfully, pretending to try and push him in the lake, "I thought kitties hated water?"

He pushed her back with his head, nuzzling her face, "true but I'd be purr-fectly content swimming with you Ladybug."

Ladybug laughed and leaned away from him, "with the toad fiasco yesterday I think I'm watered out anyways."

Chat nodded his head in agreement and the two settled into a comfortable silence.

"You know," The cat superhero started after a few moments, "its STARtling to imagine what kind of MOONster we are going to face next.."

Ladybug's face deadpanned as she stared at her partner, "oh god, you were thinking of that this entire time weren't you?"

Chat Noir tipped his head back and let out a loud, joyful laugh. It was so happy and contagious that Ladybug couldn't stop herself from giggling beside him. Their laughter continued for a few minutes until they were both out of breathe and tired.

"We should patrol soon before it gets any later" Ladybug said as she laid back on the dock. Chat Noir joined her, the two breathing softly while looking at the stars.

"Aren't they beautiful," Ladybug sighed.

The stars were bright above them. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, just the vibrant blues of the night sparkled with tiny white stars. It truly was spectacular.

"She sure is," Chat Noir said dreamily. Ladybug turned to look at him and found him staring at her, his eyes glazed and face looking so in awe. Her eyes widened and she turned away quickly, a blush on her face. Her stomach fluttered almost uncomfortably and she wondered why she kept feeling like this around her partner.

Ladybug closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm her rapid beating heart. She heard Chat Noir get up from beside her, and after opening her eyes she saw his hand was outstretched towards her. Her hand reached up to grab his, and he helped lift her up from the dock.

They explored the surrounding woods of the campsite, and went towards the trail that had vanished on, on the first day. Unable to find anything unusual or eerie, after two hours they parted ways and returned (though both were unaware of it) to the same campsite.

Every night for the next few days they patrolled together, but each night the same as before. It was beginning to feel discouraging, and helplessly they searched for any signs of what had caused the transformations of Ms. Bustier and Sabrina. In the day time, the class was relaxing more and more and seemed to lose interest and fear of any other strange animal take overs.

...

It'd been a week now since the class had arrived at the campsite. At this point, the worry of scary animal transformations was long gone from everyone except of course Adrien and Marinette. The two still patrolled together every night in their superhero identities.

Ms. Bustier gave everyone packing lists and hurried them to get ready, "today we are going on a day long hike! It's going to be pretty relaxing, nothing too intense but it will be long so don't forget to pack lots of water and your travel sleeping bags as it'll still get chilly at night. Oh! And everyone is in charge of making their own sandwiches for lunch today! The plan is we will head back to the campsite tomorrow morning. Anyone have any questions?"

Chloe raised her hand, she'd taken a rare break from wearing so much makeup as the camping trip progressed but she still groomed herself daily, "will there be showers at the top of the hike?"

Ms. Bustier smiled gently, holding her checklist close to her chest, "Oh Chloe dear, it's a hike. No showers until you get back. But it's only a day," she added after seeing Chloe's visible stress, "You'll be able to shower tomorrow night when we get back if you so desire."

The students scattered to get ready. Alya groaned as she looked over the packing lists with Marinette, Nino, and Adrien.

"This is SO much stuff! We have to walk a days worth while carrying all of these things. My back is hurting just thinking about it," she complained.

The list consisted of:

\- back pack

\- Sleeping bag

\- Water (lots of it!)

\- First aid kit

\- Pencil case

\- Notebook

\- Compass

\- Watch

\- Plastic bag for trash

\- Snacks

\- Lunch

\- Toilet paper

\- Sunscreen

\- Bug spray

\- Extra clothes for the night

Marinette laughed, "Alya this isn't even that bad!"

"Maybe for you, baker" Nino retorted, "we've all seen how strong you are. Not saying I don't have some muscle but I have to admit my legs aren't excited for this either."

Adrien patted his friend on the back, "you'll do just fine Nino, and if you can't handle it I'll just carry you like the princess that you are."

Nino mocked offense while the other three laughed, "okay model boy I'll show you. By the end of the hike it's you who's going to need carrying."

The two bickered back and forth while the girls laughed and rolled their eyes. Half an hour later, everyone had their bags packed and they met up at the edge of the trail that Ms. Bustier had gone on the first day. She looked anxious to be going down it again, but she gave her students a reassuring smile and led them into the forest. Ms. Bustier passed around maps, one for every group of three to four to share. On her back she carried a large hiking backpack full of her belongings, as well as a wheeled suitcase like bag that contained food, cooking tools, and emergency supplies.

"Feel free to go on ahead if you feel the energy, " Ms. Bustier said, "I'll stay at the back to make sure no one gets left behind. Always stay on the trails, use your maps, and always, ALWAYS have a buddy with you!"

With that, the class was off and eager (though most were eager for it to be over with). Alix and Kim ran ahead, "racing each other to the top."

"How are you feeling about the hike, Mari?" Adrien said as he and Marinette walked behind Alya and Nino who were holding hands sweetly.

"Good!" She responded, "I-I haven't gone on a hike for a long time though so I'm hoping I'm in shape for a days worth of walking!"

He nodded his head, "I've never even been on a hike before, so I'm unsure of what to expect. Any tree-mendous tips for a newbie like me?" Adrien asked with a wink.

Marinette snorted, hiding a blush behind her hand, "if I think of any, I'll let you know. But tip number one is lose the tree puns."

"Okay, okay," Adrien laughed, "just promise me the hike won't get too inTENTS?"

Marinette gave him a ladybug worthy glare, but smiled fondly at the sound of the laughter escaping Adrien's throat, "I had no idea you were such a dork, Agreste."

He put in arm around her shoulder, "Dork? I assure you I'm the coolest cat around!"

The phrase was familiar and Marinette stared at him in wonder for a moment. But she pushed the questions of out her head, instead focusing on the fact that they were now walking very close together. Adrien kept his arm around Mari, the two talking comfortably and Marinette felt like she was on cloud nine.

 **Here's some much deserved fluff for you all! I promise the next chapter will be even more fluffy ;). So I've planned out the rest of this story, and there's going to be 15 chapters in total. See you guys soon! Feed me with your reviews, you wonderful beautiful readers!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I noticed a lot of grammar or spelling issues in the last chapter that are really bugging me but I'm too lazy to go back and fix it haha. So just wanted to apologize for that, and for the grammar mistakes that I'll probably miss in this chapter too.**

 **Okay, so again thank you all so much for the lovely reviews! I adore you all! Here's a couple replies real quick-**

 **MistyWolfGirl: I promise I'll be revealing the villain soon! Patience ;)**

 **HammerInLava2017: I think if I had everyone get infected, the story would start to get a little boring and expected and so I wont be doing that! But an important infection will be happening sometime soon so be prepared! ;3**

 **Now on to the story! *heart emojis galore** *

Marinette still couldn't believe her luck. Three hours. THREE hours of just her and Adrien walking alone together! Well, not really alone as the others were generally around but it was one on one time and she was so excited to write about it in her diary and to show their future children about the time their father kept making her laugh with silly jokes and HAD HIS ARM AROUND HER! She sighed in bliss, her eyes away and dreamy.

"Oh Girl you've got it bad!" Alya laughed, poking her friend in the side.

Alya and Marinette were once again together as Adrien left to be Nino's bathroom buddy while they had walked off the trail somewhere to apparently find a "good tree."

"Alya!" Marinette squealed, "I can talk to him like a mostly normal person now!"

Her brown haired friend rolled her eyes, "Marinette you've been able to for a few days now, haven't you noticed? In all seriousness though, I'm totally proud of you! My little girl is growing up."

Alya shed a fake tear and laughed at her embarrassed friend. They checked the time and realized it was almost 1 in the afternoon.

"I don't know how long those boys were planning on being out there, but how about you and I get started on our lunches?" Alya suggested.

Marinette bobbed her dark blue hair and smiled, "sounds great, I'm starving!"

The two girls found a large rock to sit on and unpacked their lunches from their bags. They had croissant sandwiches, grapes, string cheese, sliced carrots, and a cookie (curtesy of the Dupain-Chang bakery). Marinette snuck the cookie into her backpack's front pocket where Tikki was securely hidden in.

"You think they're okay?" Marinette asked Alya after a few minutes of them digging into their food. It'd been about ten minutes now since Adrien and Nino had left and they hadn't heard from them yet.

"I wouldn't sweat it!" Alya said waving her hand in the air, "my guess is they got hungry too and decided to eat before joining back up with us. Nino probably wanted some 'bro time'."

Marinette laughed and nodded her head in relief. She hoped her friend and love of her life were safe, though she felt no sense of anything bad and Tikki seemed content so she trusted her Kwami's instincts for danger. After the girls finished eating, they wanted to continue resting and relax a little longer until the boys caught up to them.

"You don't mind if I go and sketch a little?" Mari asked Alya.

Alya smiled, "no girl you're good! Go create some fabulous designs! I need to go through my photos anyways and make some space for more so now's a good time to do that!"

Marinette nodded, and put down her bag. She pulled out her sketchbook and a pencil, and allowed Tikki to come out and hide in her hoodie pocket. Looking around, she noticed a large beautiful tree. It's branches were low enough to reach if she were to jump and grab it correctly. She leapt into the air, successfully managing to grab the thin branch and hoist herself up while holding her pencil and sketchbook in her mouth. With a huff of her breath for good measure, she pulled herself higher on the branch and reached for the next one. As she grabbed onto the next branch, the weak one beneath her snapped and fell to the floor. She squealed but it was muffled as she still had the sketchbook in her mouth.

Tikki flew out from the girls pocket, "Marinette are you alright?"

The bluenette dangled from the branch, her legs dangling and swinging. She held on the branch above her tightly and nodded to Tikki, though her eyes were wide and worried. The floor was a good 12 feet below, which really wasn't too bad of a fall but she still wasn't hoping to find herself with a sprained ankle anytime soon.

Tikki flew towards her hands and with a determined scowl she instructed Marinette, "try to stop swinging your legs! If you can get enough balance, try to pull yourself up to the branch above you! I'll try to help pull you up!"

Mari groaned, pull ups were never fun but this was a safety issue and so she put her best effort and complied. Tikki's efforts to help were gracious and did help Marinette as she managed to pull herself to the branch. She straddled it with her legs, leaned back against the trunk of the tree, and spat out her sketchbook and pencil. For a moment she sat there and caught her breath, wiping the sweat from her forehead and wondering how she got herself into this little mess.

"Thanks for your help, Tikki," Marinette said as she nuzzled the red kwami.

"Of course, Marinette!" Tikki said sweetly, "but how are we going to get you down?"

The human girl glanced down at the floor below her and gulped, "well.. let's worry about that later. Might as well get some inspiration while I'm up here!"

She drew for another good ten minutes before she heard voices below her.

"Marinette!" Alya called out, cupping her hands to her face.

Tikki flew into Marinette's pocket before the girl called back, "I'm up here!"

Three familiar faces ran over the the tree and stood below her. Marinette's face blushed in embarrassment. Alya smirked in amusement while Nino and Adrien looked concerned.

"Dude, how did you get all the way up there!?" Nino yelled.

Marinette grinned awkwardly, "the branch I used to get up here broke! So I'm a little.. stuck."

"Jump down!" Adrien yelled out.

The others looked at him like he was insane and Alya asked rudely, "do you want her to kill herself?"

Her turned a bright red and shook his head frantically, "no no, God no! I meant jump down, and I'll catch you!"

"Oh!" Alya smiled suggestively, "well in that case, Jump Marinette!"

She pulled out her camera and added, "oh and don't mind me recording, just want proof that it's Adrien's fault Marinette is dead in case anything goes wrong."

Adrien frowned at her, but walked below the girl in the tree and confidently yelled up to the stuck bluenette, "don't worry Mari! I promise I'll catch you!"

Marinette's stomach was doing all kinds of fun summersaults and flips. First she was nervous about jumping, second about jumping into ADRIEN AGRESTE'S strong beautiful arms, and third she was MOST afraid of being too heavy and killing poor handsome Adrien by squishing him into the forest floor.

"Nino, can you catch my sketchbook and pencil?" She yelled out to the darker boy. He nodded and hurried to catch it as she dropped the items into his hands.

"I'm ready whenever, pri- uh Marinette!" Adrien said a little awkwardly, holding his arms out.

Mari took a deep breath, nodded, and turned to slowly lower herself from the branch. But of course, this was clumsy Marinette and not graceful Ladybug and so as she was trying to slide off the branch carefully, she lost her grip and basically flipped herself off of the branch, screaming as she expected her impending doom below.

But rather than a painful death, she felt herself land into something strong, sturdy and yet soft. Her head was resting against more niceness. It smelt light and refreshing, like pine trees. And was that.. cheese? The hard surface was warm and when she opened her eyes she was looking into the gorgeous green color of Adrien's eyes. He was carrying her bridal style in his arms and holding her tight against his chest.

Her mouth opened into a 'o' at the intensity that he was staring at her. His eyes were wide and his cheeks were rosy. They just stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime to Marinette. But in reality is was only a few seconds before Nino coughed a little too loudly. It broke the spell that both Marinette and Adrien were in. Adrien's eyes widened in surprise and he gently put Marinette on the ground. She let go of him and began to giggle almost hysterically.

Hiding her embarrassed face behind her hands, she squeaked out, "thank you much so! I mean, you thank me! I mean THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

He scratched the back of his head and grinned bashfully, "yeah no problem!"

Alya put her camera down and winked at Marinette who made another high pitched noise.

The four were off and back to continuing their hike. Marinette's heart fluttered and Alya sneakily showed her the video on her camera of Mari falling from the tree and Adrien gallantly catching her.

"You better send that to me when we get home," Marinette whispered threateningly.

Alya only chuckled, "Oh just you wait girl I have SO much to send to you that you'll be making a whole scrapbook, knowing you."

Marinette mocked offense but then leaned into her friend excitedly, "that's not a bad idea!"

This only made Alya laugh harder, "I know you too well!"

...

The sky had darkened considerably since that sunny afternoon. It was almost 6 in the evening, and half of the class was already at their destination. Marinette, Alya, Adrien, Nino, Kim, Alix, Ivan, and Mylene all sat at the clearing. It was a man-made spot in the woods that was at the end of the trail they'd been following all day. The grass and plants were cleared so it was like a giant dirt patch. Forests surrounded the area but left enough clearing for the sky to show clearly. There was a soft breeze, and lots of quiet noises from bugs or other animals coming from the forests that gave the area a feeling of peace.

Kim's stomach rumbled loudly, "I'm starving! Ms. Bustier and the others should be here by now!" He complained.

Kim and Alix had been there for over an hour, and they were now both bored and hungry. The others nodded their heads in agreement as they too were hungry.

Nathanael, Rose and Juleka entered the clearing, smiling at their friends in greeting.

"Don't worry!" Rose piped up in her high pitched, lovely voice, "Ms. Bustier will be here soon! We just went ahead of her, she's a little slow because she's keeping at Chloe and Sabrina's paces."

Juleka nodded her head in agreement.

The students kept themselves busy while waiting. Many were finishing the snacks they'd packed, out of boredom. Mylene was massaging Ivan's giant feet. Rose, Juleka, and Alya were watching the video Alya had taken of Marinette in the tree.

Rose sighed, "it's so romantic!"

Juleka said simply, "rad."

Alya looked like a proud mother, "you should have seen it in person, the way he was looking at her was so dreamy!"

Marinette sat in embarrassment, her face tomato red. She needed an escape. Adrien and Nino were standing with Kim and Alix, seeing who could throw their peanuts into little plastic cups they had placed a few feet away from them. On the other side, sitting alone was Nathaniel. Marinette made eye contact with him, to which he quickly ducked his head and looked back down at his sketchbook he was drawing in. The bluenette quickly grabbed her drawing supplies from her bag and then hurried to sit beside the red headed boy.

"Mind if I draw with you?" She said politely.

Nathaniel smiled excitedly, a huge blush spreading on his face. His voice remained calm and steady though, and he said nicely, "I'd love that."

Marinette smiled fondly. Nathaniel was quiet, but she knew that he was and an incredibly talented artist. She knew a couple years back, when he'd been akumatized into the Evillustrator, that he'd had been fond of her. The naive girl was completely unaware that his big crush on her was very much still existent.

"Can I see what you've been drawing?" Marinette asked gently, noticing he was blocking his artwork with his arm a little.

Nathaniel was hesitant at first, but he moved his arm away and showed her what he'd been working on.

Much to Marinette's confusion, she found herself both stunned and breathless. Not just because of the talent in which Nathaniel clearly had, but because of the drawing he'd created. It was a beautiful picture of none other than Ladybug and Chat Noir. But it was incredibly romantic, Chat Noir held her close to him and they were looking deeply into one another's eyes. Ladybug was cupping his face, as if she were about to kiss him. Marinette unconsciously brought her fingers to her lips, a bright blush on her face as she looked at the drawing in awe.

"It's still a work in progress and I'm not sure how I feel about his expression," Nathaniel admitted softly after Marinette remained silent.

The girl beside him shook her head frantically and almost burst out in exclamation, "No! No really, it's seriously perfect. Sorry I'm just a little speechless. Nathaniel, this is.. well it's incredible! You're so talented!"

Nathaniel's mouth opened in shock and he turned almost as red as his hair, "thank you Marinette, that really means a lot to me. If you'd like, when I'm finished, you can have it?"

Marinette held her hands to her heart, "oh no no! I'd feel so bad to take it! Maybe a copy. I mean it Nathaniel this is amazing."

He nodded his head, at a loss for words at being so complimented by the girl of his dreams. They went into a comfortable silence as Marinette began to sketch out some designs she'd been imagining and Nathaniel continued his LadyNoir sketch.

Mari was conflicted. The drawing the boy beside her was working on gave her so many feelings she didn't realize she'd ever have. The first one being longing. How could she wish for that moment, when her heart belonged to Adrien. She was so torn, because her mind kept imaging the moment Nathaniel had so beautifully illustrated. And she realized that what she wished was for her Chaton to hold her so, and she wished she was coming in to press her lips against his.

What she didn't notice in that moment, was the way Adrien had been watching both her and Nathaniel. He looked upset, a scowl on his face as he saw the way they talked and the two blushed. Nathaniel looked so amazed with Marinette and whatever he had shown her had obviously amazed her greatly.

"Bro," Nino coughed.

Adrien looked over to his friend, who had the biggest smirk on his face, "uh, what?"

"You're SO jealous!" Nino laughed out loud.

The blonde model gulped and felt himself feeling hot, "of what?" He said rather guiltily.

"Oh come on dude," Nino was cracking up now, "I see the way you're watching Mari and Nathaniel. You look like you want to stab him with a fork."

"I do not," Adrien mumbled rather unconvincingly, but his eyes stayed on the two artists with an expression of uncertainty.

...

Ms. Bustier and the others showed up a little later. She'd demonstrated how you create your own fire from scratch, and then proceeded to have all the children make campfire baked potatoes. They took forever to cook but the end results, once topped with butter, cheese, sour cream, bacon, broccoli, and lots of seasonings, were marvelous. Exhaustion from the long hike that day, as well as full, warm bellies made everyone go to bed a little earlier that night. The kids were quickly passing out in their sleeping bags, scattered around the dirt clearing.

Marinette lay awake, waiting for all of those around her to be fast asleep. She needed to patrol, and she didn't want to leave Chat Noir waiting wherever he may be. She was hours from the campsite and she was unsure how long it'd take her even with her Ladybug advantages to find him anywhere. Her plan was to call him as soon as she transformed so to figure out his location and where they could meet that would be most time efficient.

Tikki was rather restless, from being hidden just about all day and unable to do much but sleep and eat. She flew low, over to Marinette's ear and whispered, "I'm going to check that everyone is asleep, then we can get going!"

Her chosen nodded her head silently, and felt Tikki's soft pressure beside her swiftly leave. She waited only a minute before the little red kwami returned.

"Well," Kwami began in a whisper, her voice a little hesitant, "Er, there is one person missing. But I'm sure he's just off to the bathroom."

"Missing?" Marinette question, her eyebrow furrowing as she began to sit up, "Who?"

Tikki stuck her lip out, almost stubbornly. Marinette repeated herself, "Tikki, who?"

The kwami glanced over at the girl, and then admitted, "Adrien."

Marinette let out a little gasp, looked around and saw that beside Nino, across the clearing on the boys side, was an empty sleeping bag.

"I really wouldn't worry Marinette," Tikki said kindly but firmly, "He must have just gone to the bathroom. Plus, you need to find Chat Noir so let's get going."

The bluenette wasn't quite comfortable leaving Adrien somewhere alone in the woods, unsure of his safety. But Tikki was right, and she really didn't want to leave Chat Noir waiting too much longer. She quietly slipped out of her sleeping bag, slipped on her tennis shoes, and headed down towards the path of the hike.

After gaining a good amount of distance from her teachers and classmates, she began to speak to her Kwami.

"Tikki?"

"Yes Marinette? Are you ready to transform soon?" Her kwami responded.

Marinette shook her head, "Can we talk? Just for a little?"

Tikki smiled gently, and rushed over to nuzzle her head on Marinette's cheek, "Of course, Marinette!"

Marinette sighed, and Tikki waited patiently for her to speak.

"Tikki," Marinette began even quieter than before, her voice scared and unsure.

The kwami gave her another touch on her cheek to show her she was listening.

"I.." Marinette gulped, "I'm in love with Chat Noir."

Tikki smiled knowingly, and asked, "And what about Adrien?"

Marinette made an odd strangled noise of frustration, while waving her arms dramatically, "and I'm very much in love with him! Tikki what is wrong with me!?"

She let out an ugly, squeaky scream into the quiet night. Tikki giggled on her shoulder.

"Should I tell him?" Marinette asked the Kwami after some silence.

Tikki made a humming noise in thought, "that's up to you I suppose."

"Anyhow, we need to call him and plan our patrol for the night. Tikki, transform me!"

There was a bright flash of red and there stood Ladybug. She used her yo yo to pull herself into a high tree, and once at the top she opened the yo yo to contact her kitty partner.

"Beautiful evening, huh my lady?" Chat Noir grinned cheekily at her over the screen.

"Indeed," she smiled fondly, her stomach flipping in nervousness, "Where should we meet up Chat Noir? I'm many hours away from our usual meeting place at the lake, so I can't meet you there tonight."

Chat Noir nodded, "Fine by me, I'm actually in the same boat. I can send you my location and we can see how far away we are from one another?"

Ladybug nodded and after a second she got a beep on her yo yo. She slid the screen to the right, opening a map that had two bright dots. The red dot was Ladybug, and the green one was Chat Noir's location he'd just sent her. To her surprise, he was only half a mile ahead of her on the hiking trail.

"I'll head to you right now, Chaton," Ladybug said, "You're only half a mile away from me."

"Oh really?" He responded, "in that case, Tree you soon!"

The spotted heroine giggled to herself after hanging up. She immediately dashed to meet her partner.

"Long time, no tree!" He greeted her.

Ladybug rolled her eyes, "the same pun in a row, I thought you were better than that Chat?"

"I'm in need of a cat nap, so I'm not exactly thinking properly," he smiled back.

"After we patrol," Ladybug began, looking at the floor nervously, "Do you mind if we talk?"

Chat tilted his head to the side, like a confused kitten, "Talk? And not now?"

"No," she said, looking up at him apologetically through her bangs, "I don't think I'm quite ready now but I'd like to later."

He nodded, smiling at her gently and then looking away, "okay. There's something I'd like to talk to you about as well so.. okay then."

Chat Noir extended his baton and pointed away from them, down the trail. "Shall we explore?"

Ladybug spun her yo yo, ready to latch onto the trees and fly through the night, "ready when you are!"

...

They patrolled the new area of the woods for a good hour and a half, but found nothing yet again. The two superheroes were starting to feel some frustration. They knew something was going on deep in these woods, but night after night they were coming up empty handed.

"It's been a long day for me," Ladybug said as they sat in a tree together resting.

Chat Noir bobbed his head lazily in agreement, his legs outstretched on a branch as he leaned back against the truck of the tree and chewed on a small stick.

"You had something you wanted to talk about, Chaton?" Ladybug spoke up, looking up at her partner who was in the branch above her. She stood against the trunk of the tree, pointing out a foot one at a time to stretch it and alternating between the two.

"As did you, my lady?" He said, looking down and grinning at her.

She looked away, blushing, "You first Chat."

"If you insist," he said. He looked up into the stars. Ladybug glanced up at him, wanting to remember this beautiful view of her partner. He looked strong, and content. The glow of the sky illuminated his messy blonde hair and he looked wistfully at the scene above him.

"You know that I've had feelings for you for some time now, Bugaboo," he began to say. Ladybug's face heated up and she looked down at her feet, nodding slowly.

Chat Noir continued, "And you've never really reciprocated those feelings. But that's okay, you're crazy out of my league and I'm lucky enough to have you both as a partner, and as my best friend."

Ladybug smiled sadly, she was about to say something, to correct him that he meant so much to her and that they were equals, when he continued.

"I think I'm starting to fall in love with someone else, Ladybug. You'll always be my lady, and my partner, and my best friend. But there's this girl, and she's so talented and kind, she's beautiful and she makes me laugh and I feel amazing around her; and I'm realizing that, well I think, that's she's the one for me."

Ladybug's eyes were wide as she stared at her feet. She barely noticed the wet droplets that were falling on to her feet. Quickly, she brought her arm to her face to wipe the wetness.

"I'm happy for you, Chat Noir." She said forcefully.

He picked up the negativity in her voice, but chose to not bring it up, "And what did you want to tell me, bugaboo?" He asked softly.

The bluenette hero refused to look at him. She gave a soft fake laugh, "Its not really important. I was just going to say.."

Ladybug was quiet again, now unsure of what to say and wanting so badly to flee.

"Just was going to say that I'm tired. And this forest issue is really tedious. I hope it'll be over soon. Goodnight, Chat Noir."

With that, she ran away as fast as she could, praying that her partner wouldn't follow her.

She wasn't sure how long she ran for. She wasn't sure how far away she went, or where she even was. Ladybug misjudged a jump and tripped, falling between branches and landing painfully on the forest floor. Hot, sorrowful tears ran down her face. She curled up into herself against a tree, and let loud, choking sobs escape her throat. Her heart was broken, her head was confused, and she felt more miserable than she'd ever felt before.

 **Ending with a little angst ;) Love square reversed? Leave me lots of reviews my little readers! Will bring you another chapter soon, as well as an introduction to this new "villain" ;))**


	11. Chapter 11

**Another chapter for you guys! Thanks for all the recent reviews, follow, and favorites. I love you all!**

Marinette could barely sleep that night. When she'd returned, Adrien was back in his sleeping bag and sleeping soundly. That took off some extra stress of her worrying about him, but her heart still was aching more than she ever imagined it would.

It was around 5 in the morning. Everyone else was still dead asleep but she found that she couldn't go back to bed even if her life depended on it. Tikki suggested they take a walk, her face full of concern. Mari nodded gravely, and slowly got up.

They walked down the trail just enough so that there was no possibility of anyone at the campsite hearing them talk. Marinette felt herself falling apart again. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to stop the tears from coming. Tikki noticed right away and flew in front of her chosen's face.

"Now Marinette, you listen to me!" Tikki yelled, startling Marinette so greatly that she stopped crying.

The girl was speechless and waited for the angry kwami to continue.

"Does Chat Noir hate you, Marinette?" Tikki demanded.

Marinette looked at the floor and whispered, "no.."

The kwami continued, "Is he no longer your friend or partner?"

The bluenette shook her head no.

"Then tell me Marinette, why are you so sad? Why are you acting as if Chat Noir wants nothing to do with you?" Tikki put her little arms on her hips and despite her sugary voice, laced with such anger she was rather intimidating.

Marinette was embarrassed, but admitting it aloud she began to cry again, sniffling as she spoke, "because.. because he loves s-someone else!"

Tikki sighed, but softened visibly as she came closer to Marinette to wipe her tears, "Marinette, Chat Noir has been in love with Ladybug for years. But Ladybug never loved him the same way. Did that stop him from being the best partner you could ever have? Did that stop him from trying?"

Marinette's sad blue eyes looked up at her kwami as she listened closely, "no, he's always been my best friend," she admitted, unsure of where Tikki was going with this.

"Then just because he decided he is going to pursue someone else, should you stop being the best partner HE could ever have? Does this mean YOU should stop trying? And Marinette, did you ever stop to think about WHO this girl is that Chat Noir loves?" Tikki's voice was stern but gentle and loving.

Marinette shook her head, her lip pouting a little in jealousy as she thought of who could have stolen her partners heart.

Tikki giggled at Marinette's jealous face, "Did you ever consider that maybe the girl he loves is you?"

"Me?" Marinette choked, "but he said he didn't-"

"He said he didn't love Ladybug," Tikki interrupted, "but for all you know it could be that he loves Marinette."

The girls wet eyes widened. She wiped her face with her hoodie sleeves and smiled at the kwami.

"I don't know if that's true, and I'm afraid to get my hopes up, but," Marinette paused, "Thank you Tikki. You're right, Chat Noir will always be my partner no matter what and so I shouldn't be acting like the world has ended. I need to be strong for him, just like he always has been for me."

The kwami nodded and gave Marinette a light kiss on the cheek, "I love you, Marinette. Don't let this get you down!"

Mari patted Tikki's head, "I love you too Tikki, thank you."

. . .

"I know you're all sore from yesterday, but I promise when we get back to the campsite we can all have lots of rest! I'll even give you a whole day of free time!"

Ms. Bustier was trying to convince her students to just move. Half were complaining about how sore their legs were, some (a.k.a. Chloe) were saying this was child abuse, and a very small few (Adrien, Marinette, Kim, and Alix) felt perfectly fine and ready to take on another day of hiking. The students were off, taking various groups and chatting with each other while they walked.

"Girl how are your legs not killing you right now?" Alya demanded from her petite Chinese French friend, who seemed perfectly fine with walking another day's worth.

Marinette shrugged sheepishly, "In shape from the bakery deliveries and walking to school a lot?"

"I bet Marinette has a secret workout," Alix teased.

The bluenette nervously laughed, frantically waving her hands, "secret workout? Me! No of course not-ah I hate working out no thank you!"

Alya and Alix laughed at her antics, "Chill out girl like you'd ever work out!" Alya poked her in the belly.

She froze, and then brought her hand back to Marinette's stomach, "oh my GOD girl do you have freaking abs?"

Alix grabbed Marinette's hoodie and shirt underneath and pulled them up roughly. Marinette squealed and tried to pull them back down before anyone else noticed her bare stomach or bra.

Alya and Alix both had their mouths hanging wide open. Marinette yelped loudly as Alya grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, "Marinette why do you wear a one piece? Why don't you own a bikini to show off your killer abs OMG how long have you had these muscles!?"

The girls were starting to cause a little bit of a commotion. Adrien, Nino, Kim, Sabrina, and Chloe walked over from opposite directions to see what Alya was fussing about and what was leaving Alix so speechless.

Alix dramatically grabbed Kim by the sporty tank top he was wearing and practically screamed as she pulled him down to her short level, "Marinette has a freaking 8 pack! Like top body builder abs!"

Alya tried to pull Marinette's clothing up again but the small, strong girl fought back, "I feel sexually harassed!" She hissed out at her best friend who wouldn't stop trying to get her stomach to show.

"Marinette just doesn't want to show us her flab," Chloe scoffed, rolling her eyes, "I bet underneath her clothes is lots of ugly, fat chub!"

Alya was about to defend her friend when Marinette spoke up first, hands on her hips angrily, "I'll have you know that it doesn't mater if I had a stupid 14 pack set of abs underneath my clothing or if my stomach was squishy and large because my body is beautiful regardless! All body types are beautiful Chloe, the only thing ugly here is your personality!"

Chloe's face turned pale and her mouth hung open unattractively while she squawked in anger. Sabrina gasped in shock while the others stared at Marinette in surprise from her little out burst. The bluenette bristled angrily, and stormed off by herself leaving the others behind.

"Damn," Nino snorted.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Chloe suddenly screamed, running up behind Marinette and grabbed the girl by one of her pigtails, pulling her back roughly.

Marinette fell on her butt, yelling out in pain as her hair tie from one of her pigtails was practically ripped out. Chloe towered over her, her face furious and red with rage. She leaned down, close to Marinette's flustered face.

"You listen to me, Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she spat, "You're an ugly, stupid girl with no talent. The only reason you even have any friends is because they pity you. That's the only reason why Adrien talks to you, because he feels bad for you! So if I were you, I'd go get lost in those woods and never return so that you can stop being a burden to everyone here!"

With that, she pulled out Marinette's other hair tie.

On a normal day, Marinette probably wouldn't have been too affected by Chloe's hateful words. But with her emotions all over the place from the night before, it left her feeling a little more fragile. Her bottom lip quivered and she looked down in shame. Foot steps hurried closer to the two girls.

"Now baby Marinette is going to cry in front of Adrien," Chloe sneered, "how pathetic!"

"Shut up Chloe!" Marinette heard Adrien yell above her.

The blonde girl gasped, "but, Adrikins-"

"I said shut up, Chloe," he repeated. He bent down in front of Marinette, his eyes sad and full of concern.

She couldn't look at him, she was too embarrassed. The poor girl pushed her crush away from her, got up and darted into the woods.

"Marinette, wait!" Her friends called out behind her, but she ignored them and continued to run as fast as she could.

Tikki flew out, holding on to Marinette's face, "slow down, Marinette! Before you fall!"

The girl obeyed, walking over to a patch of moss and letting herself drop on to it. She leaned her body over her knees and groaned, "Why do I let Chloe get to me? I know what she said wasn't true."

Her kwami wiped the tears from her eyes for a second time that day, "Its okay Marinette. Chloe is just jealous that you have so many people who love and care for you."

Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching and so Tikki flew back into the open pocket on Marinette's hiking backpack to hide.

"Oh thank god I found you," Adrien said as he carefully sat down beside Marinette, leaving some space between them.

"I'm sorry I pushed you," Marinette whimpered into her knees.

He gently laughed and reached over to rub her back softly, "no it's okay! I'm really sorry about how Chloe treated you. I don't know what she said to you but whatever it was I know it's not true!"

"I know," the girl admitted, "I had a rough night last night and I think I'm just a little sensitive today."

Adrien looked at her intently, "Nightmares? do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head, "it's alright, but thank you for coming for me, Adrien."

He brought a hand to the back of his head and smiled bashfully, "of course! We were all really worried about you. Are you ready to head back now?"

Marinette nodded, so Adrien stood up and offered her his hand. It reminded her of the other night she had on the dock with Chat Noir, and her heart ached a little. Adrien saw the sadness in her eyes, and when Marinette accepted his hand, he pulled her up but instead of simply letting go, he pulled her into a hug. At first Marinette was stiff and shocked, but soon she softened and hugged Adrien back. The gesture was more comforting than romantic but she treasured the moment greatly. After a long moment, Adrien pulled away, a light blush on his face.

"Sorry," he said in embarrassment, "I just thought maybe you'd need a hug."

Marinette giggled, her heart racing from the contact "Thank you, really. It's exactly what I needed."

The two teenagers walked off together, heading back to the main hiking trail.

. . .

After some time, Adrien and Marinette were still walking. And they still weren't on the trail. They began to feel uncomfortable, neither saying a word for some time.

Finally, Adrien spoke up, "Marinette, I think we went the wrong way."

Marinette's bottom lip stuck out in a pout. She grabbed the map from her backpack and tried to read it, but without knowing their current location she found it unhelpful.

" _If only I could transform_ ," she thought.

Instead she said, "Well, it looks like we're lost."

Adrien sighed, "What do you think we should do? Keep walking this direction until we find a landmark on the map, or try a different one?"

"We're this far already," Marinette looked around at the forest surrounding them, "may as well keep going."

The boy beside her agreed, so the longer they walked unsure of where they were going. Both seemed caught up in their own thoughts so they didn't speak much this time. Marinette would occasionally catch Adrien looking at her, but every time she'd look back at him he'd quickly look in the opposite direction.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled after probably the 7th time she'd caught him staring, "It's just.."

A deep blush covered his face all the way to the tips of his ears, "You look really pretty with your hair down. Not that you're not already pretty! But just the change is distracting! In a good way!"

He smacked himself in the head and Marinette could have sworn she almost heard a small noise snickering. Marinette felt her own face getting hot and she found herself babbling even worse than he had.

"Thank you! Your hair looks pretty too! I mean it's gorgeous! Or handsome? I mean all of you is handsome and oh my god Marinette stop talking!"

She pulled her pink hoodie over her head and pulled the strings tight so that her face was obscured. Adrien stopped and stared at her, his face unreadable. And then he leaned forward and laughed harder than she'd ever seen him laugh and she felt all of her insides melt at how beautiful and innocent the sound was.

. . .

They'd been walking for over an hour now, and while at first they'd felt anxious about being lost; at this point they were just enjoying each other's company. To kill time, they played games like Would You Rather and Two Truths and a Lie.

"Would you rather have one giant cat, or lots of little cats?" Adrien asked his walking companion.

Marinette rolled her eyes, "another cat question Adrien? Uh I guess one giant one, too many cats would be overwhelming."

"Would you say it'd be CATastrophic?" Adrien winked.

With a hard push, Marinette sent Adrien falling on his behind into a tree and she ran off giggling.

"Ill get you back for that!" He yelled chasing after her.

He caught up quickly, both of them running a little awkwardly with their large hiking backpacks still strapped to their backs. Adrien reached out for her shoulder and gently pulled her back while laughing.

"Wait a sec," Marinette raised a finger to silence him, "Do you hear that?"

They both froze, Adrien's hand still remained on Marinette's shoulder. Softly, off in the distance, both of them could hear running water. Adrien pulled out his map and excitedly pointed at it.

"Look Mari, there's a river on the map right here!" He exclaimed.

"We must be close by!" The bluenette bounced eagerly, "Let's go!"

To both of their surprise, Marinette grabbed Adrien's hand and they rushed to the sound of the water. As they saw trees clearing ahead of them, they could hear the river louder. The day had been progressively getting hotter and both of the teens were excited to dip their feet in the cool running water.

That is, until they saw the river.

Marinette felt Adrien's hand tighten on her own. She gasped in horror at the sight before them. The river was running still but slower than they expected it to. Instead of a clear blue color, the water was a sickly dark green color, almost black. There was an awful stench in the air of death and filth. Along the river bank lay many dead animals. They could see the animals were poisoned from the polluted waters, there tiny lifeless bodies covered in purple bruises, oddly like the ones Sabrina and Ms. Bustier had. Marinette pulled Adrien along with her, to get a closer look at the animals. She used her free arm to cover her nose as the closer they got to the river, the more unbearable the smell was.

"Marinette, look!" Adrien's voice was muffled as his mouth was also covered and he pointed down the river, his face fearful.

Her stomach dropped as she looked at the beast that lay farther down the river. There lay a stag, but different than any other she'd seen in pictures. It was huge, probably twice the size of a usual male deer. His antlers were also incredible in size, they were at least 12 feet long each. The stag's stomach slowly moved up and down, but his face lay still and his eyes were closed. His body was tainted in the purple bruises like the other animals were, except his were larger like the one Ms. Bustier had on her neck or Sabrina's on her rib, and looked even more painful. His lovely brown fur was covered in the dark green gunk of the river. As they hesitantly approached the great animal, it lifted its head to stare at them.

 _"Come closer, children_ " a deep, tired voice said.

Marinette and Adrien both jumped, the sudden voice startling them. They looked at each other, and then back at the stag. It's mouth hadn't moved but somehow they still heard it talking. Together they skeptically came closer, so that they stood beside it.

 _"Listen closely_ ," the voice spoke again. The stag definitely wasn't moving his mouth, but his eyes were watching them both so intently that they knew it was he who was speaking. Both nodded their heads to show they were listening.

 _"You poisoned us. Humans. This land once was untouched by man, it was holy and pure and until man came here we all were free,_ " his voice turned cold, almost menacing, " _And then man came, and continued to pour their unpalatable waste into our waters. They did it for years and then left us to die. Now we are suffering, my animals are corrupted, and we are seeking our revenge on man."_

"But it wasn't us, we are innocent!" Marinette spoke out desperately.

The stag narrowed its weak eyes at the girl, " _You are guilty. All man are. You do not help us, you use our land for your pleasure and do nothing to repay for the sins of your kind."_

Adrien took a step forward, gently kneeling to be eye level with the stag's face, "What can we do?" He asked softly. His hand plugging his noise was down and away out of respect.

" _Cleanse us. Heal our river and cure our sickly bodies before more of us die. I'm the guardian of these forests and yet I lay here moribund, unable to care for my children_ ," the stag earnestly begged.

The blonde, kind boy reach a hand out to touch the stag's forehead, "I promise we will do something to help. I swear on my life."

Another sad sigh came from the stag's mouth. He leaned into Adrien's touch, seeming to enjoy the warmth that came from the boy. For a moment all was silent besides the noises of the river, Marinette waited patiently to see what would happen next.

" _I believe you,_ " the Stag said, looking up into Adrien's bright green eyes, _"I sense you're unlucky child. But the girl behind you can balance you, work together and maybe you can save us all."_

" _Now go,_ " the magnificent deer looked away, back to the river and to his dead brothers and sisters, " _hurry and help us before more innocent die, and before I too become corrupt."_

Adrien looked back at Marinette, his face so determined and hopeful that he almost looked like Chat Noir. Her breath froze in that moment he stared at her, she was so inspired by this selfless boy, and wanted nothing more than to help these animals. She didn't even realize he was walking back towards her until he took her free hand.

"Let's go Mari, and find a way to save these creatures."

Her worried expression softened and her blue eyes looked so warm, "Lets do it."

. . .

"We made it!" Marinette squealed, jumping for joy and stomping all over the trail childishly in glee.

Adrien lightly chuckled at her, "I wonder how ahead we are of the others."

After leaving the river, they'd used the map and a compass to find their way back to the trail. Of course, by cutting through the forest they ended up skipping a good majority of the trail and saved at least five hours of their hiking time. Meaning they were significantly ahead of their friends.

"Should we keep going or wait for them?" Marinette wondered aloud as she looked at the trail behind her.

Adrien opened his mouth to answer, but then his stomach made a loud growl. Marinette giggled while Adrien flushed a rosy pink color.

"Okay lunch first, then we decide," the bluenette laughed, taking off her heavy back pack and stretching.

She combed her fingers through her hair, feeling a little odd to have her hair down instead of its usual twin tails. Her heart fluttered happily remembering Adrien's compliments earlier. Shyly, she sneaked a glance his direction and saw him sneaking a piece of cheese into his sweater pocket. She blinked in confusion, it's a little weird that Adrien wants to save cheese for later, especially in his pocket where it'll just get warm. He lifted his head up and she quickly looked away so that he wouldn't catch her staring.

Out of her own lunch, she pulled out some cookies, a water bottle, a bag of dried strawberries, and an egg salad sandwich. When Adrien was digging into his own sandwiches (he packed two for himself), she snuck a cookie into her backpack for Tikki. While she was eating her own food, Marinette heard Adrien clear his throat.

"Hey Mari," he started.

She looked up at him while chewing, and so he continued, "I think it's best we don't tell anyone about what we saw at the river, at least not yet. Except there was one person I wanted to tell if that's okay with you.."

"Me too actually," Marinette nodded after she swallowed her bite, "I know Ladybug and Chat Noir do patrols at night, I've run into Chat Noir once before.."

She admitted with a blush, looking down, "I'll probably see Ladybug tonight and I was thinking of telling her. If that's okay with you?"

He smiled brightly, "no actually that'd be great! I was thinking of telling Chat Noir anyways so yeah that'll be perfect!"

Marinette agreed, "But yes I agree we shouldn't tell anyone else just yet. I can already imagine Alya running head first into the river just to get a good story on it and to talk to the stag."

Adrien laughed, "And she'd drag Nino along with her too and I can already imagine him complaining about the smell."

The two giggled, finishing their lunches while they continued to chat, and then continued on their hike.

. . .

It was twilight when they'd made it back to the campsite. Both of them were exhausted and agreed to take showers and then nap until their friends returned after them. Marinette was especially worn out, which she explained to Adrien was because she had a hard time sleeping the night before. He encouraged her to get some rest and thanked her for being his "hiking companion", then the two went their separate ways.

In the shower, Marinette finally had the chance to speak to Tikki.

"Is there anything we can do to clean the pollution in the river?" She asked her kwami while shampooing her greasy hair.

The kwami looked up at the ceiling in thought, "I'm not sure, this isn't just any polluted river. The animal's hate and sadness is so strong that they created some sort of magic or power which has taken over them, which has then taken over us in the way it possessed Ms. Bustier and Chloe's friend. It's very dangerous and concerning!"

"Do you think it would work to have Chat cataclysm the gunk, like he has on the bruises?" Marinette asked.

Tikki shook her head, "I don't think it's that simple. This river and the pollution from it feels much more powerful, and pained. I had all sorts of bad feelings when you two were there."

"Could my miraculous cleanse work?" She asked Tikki next.

The red kwami shook her head, "not on its own, but.. that reminds me of something Plagg and I had to do thousands of years ago.. I wonder.."

Marinette tilted her head to the side, "what? What are you talking about Tikki?"

The kwami seemed to be buzzing with excitement, "that may actually work!" She exclaimed, "I'll need to speak with Plagg as soon as possible!"

"Tikki!" Marinette said loudly to regain her kwami's attention, "Who is Plagg and what in the world are you talking about?"

For a moment Tikki looked lost and confused. But she giggled awkwardly and apologized to her chosen.

"Plagg is Chat Noir's kwami," Tikki said, "And I've just remembered something we had to do thousands of years ago. But it's difficult and hard to explain so I'll only explain it to you if Plagg agrees that we should do it."

Marinette was still confused but let out a little huff of frustration, "Alright then.. but how are we going to find Chat Noir's kwami?"

Tikki shook her head, "I know exactly where to find him, but I'll do that while you're resting."

The girl gave her kwami a suspicious glare, "Tikki, do you know who Chat Noir is?"

The kwami just smiled at Mari, "Of course I do! I'm a wise and powerful god after all." She gave Marinette a little wink just to annoy her more and then giggled at Marinette's pout of frustration.

The girl quickly finished up her shower, dressed into clean dry clothes, and then escaped to her and Alya's cabin to nap until her other classmates returned.

 **I'd love to hear any predictions that anyone has ;) Don't be afraid to leave any comments and I'll bring forth the next chapter soon. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you all for the new favorites, follows and reviews. I can't say enough how much I adore all of you. 3**

Tikki waited till her chosen was fast asleep before she left to find Plagg. She was completely aware of who Chat Noir was in civilian form and thus she knew exactly where her kitty counterpart was. No one was at the campsite, so Tikki casually flew about until she approached the cabin that was inhabited by none other than Adrien and Nino. She floated down towards the bottom of the door, and phased through it silently. Inside the cabin, she found Adrien sitting on his bed playing his Nintendo 3DS while chatting with the black kwami besides him. Tikki snuck closer to them, then hid under the bed to wait before she alerted Plagg of her presence.

Her nose scrunched up distastefully, " _you'd think a boy like Adrien wouldn't smell so bad,_ " She thought to herself. The cabin room had a cheesy aura about it, plus the addition of sweaty clothing and she could see a forgotten, stinky sock besides her. The little red kwami had a sudden desire to go back to Marinette and snuggle in her floral shampooed hair that was so refreshing and sweet compared to the atrocity of a boy's cabin.

Above her, Adrien was trying to discuss the river discoveries with his kwami.

"Plagg, how in the world are Ladybug and I going to save all those animals?" He said in frustration.

The cat kwami munched, his voice muffled and full of food, "you guys will figure something out," he said lazily.

Adrien huffed in annoyance, "you're no help, I shouldn't have given you any cheese. You don't deserve it."

Plagg gasped in offense, "excuse me, I had to suffer through your flirting with your 'princess darling sugar angel' of a girlfriend so I deserve this cheese and MORE! You two are disgusting."

The young model sighed, "we weren't flirting Plagg. And Marinette is _not_ my girlfriend." He said the last part a little sadly, a little hopefully, and Tikki fluttered in excitement below.

Adrien and Plagg bantered back and forth a little longer before Tikki decided she'd heard enough, and smelt enough, and wished to return to her chosen sooner rather than later. She took a deep breath, and flew out from beneath the wooden bed frame. Her body hovered besides the black kwami, in plain sight of Adrien Agreste.

"Plagg," she said simply, matter of factly.

Oh how Tikki wish she'd had a camera for that moment. Her partner was unphased by her appearance, he only smiled at her in greeting and offered her a piece of cheese. Adrien, on the other hand, was VERY shocked to see two kwami beside him. He squeaked aloud in surprise, backing away from Tikki and falling clumsily off the bed. His feet waved about in the air and his 3DS crashed to the ground beside the blonde boy.

"Are you alright?" Tikki giggled.

Adrien's eyes were wide and his face pale, "you're a kwami!" He shouted dumbly.

"Yes," Tikki nodded kindly, "I'm Ladybug's kwami."

"You're Ladybug's kwami!" Adrien yelled out again, this time covering his face with a blanket as he sat on the floor besides the bed, and he whispered harshly, "Am I allowed to see you?"

Plagg rolled his eyes and Tikki giggled some more, "Yes, Adrien, you can look at me."

He lowered the blanket and stared at Tikki in wonder, "You're so much cuter than Plagg!"

"And you're much cuter in person!" She winked, causing Adrien's face to turn a deep red.

Her high little voice laughed more and then she turned to Plagg, "we need to talk."

He nodded his head, "Can I finish my Camembert first?"

Tikki crossed her arms, "fine. But hurry, I don't want to waste too much time away from Ladybug."

Adrien spoke up, "Erm, what's your name?" He asked a little awkwardly.

The red kwami gave him an achingly sweet smile as she came closer to Adrien, "I'm Tikki!" She brought out an arm, and Adrien brought up his right index finger to shake her arm in greeting.

"Does Ladybug know who I am?" He asked her next, as he climbed back onto the bed.

Tikki shook her head, "not at all! She doesn't even know I'm here!"

He nodded, "there's something I need to tell Ladybug! Today I was with my classmate and we figured out what's causing the animal monsters and-"

The kwami cut him off, "I know. Marinette told Ladybug already."

"Already?" Adrien was baffled, "man she was quick. I know we can trust her, she promised she wouldn't tell anyone!"

Tikki grinned knowingly, "Yes I believe we can trust Marinette as well. Now, I need to discuss some things with Plagg in private. I'll bring him back to you shortly!"

She flew to her partner and plucked him from the pillow where he was laying sleepily. He groaned in annoyance, but flew besides Tikki and the two phased out of the cabin, leaving Adrien alone and a little dumbfounded.

"What is it Tikki?" Plagg asked with genuine curiosity as he started to notice the intensity of his bug partner.

She was literally buzzing, and she got close to Plagg's face with such excitement and motivation, "I know what they can do!"

"Who?" Plagg questioned, "the kids?"

Tikki nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! I know how they can cleanse the river and all the animals!"

She shared her ideas, memories, and plans with Plagg who listened carefully and nodded his head every so often to show he was listening. They discussed the plans, made an agreement, and then gave a little hug as they bid each other farewell. Both kwamis agreed to explain to their chosen's the plan and what they would need to do to practice.

. . .

"MARINETTE OH THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE!"

A rather frazzled bluenette shot out of bed, startled by the screaming and Marinette found herself being hugged by her best friend. Alya's glasses poked the side of Mari's face painfully and she slipped out of her friend's arms.

With a yawn, she asked, "Alya what are you talking about?"

Her friend plopped on the bed, directly on top of Marinette and snuggled close to her, rambling as she spoke, "you disappeared Marinette! Adrien went looking after you and then you both were gone and we were all so worried you two had gotten lost but Nino trusted Adrien and said you guys were probably already at the camp so we didn't tell Ms. Bustier you two were missing and girl, THANK GOD you are here and you're okay!"

Marinette chuckled and rubbed her friend's back, "I'm sorry we worried you so much, we did get lost but we ended up finding a huge short cut essentially and saved hours getting back to the campsite!"

She told her friend excitedly about Adrien hugging her and some of the things that had happened, save the river incident. Alya was excited to hear that Adrien was showing some interest in Marinette and more than anything she was relieved to find her friend safe. She pulled Marinette out of bed, waited while the bluenette tied her hair back into her usual pigtails, and the two joined the rest of their classmates outside at the campfire.

Alya, Marinette, Max and Rose prepared large camping pots full of delicious soup ingredients while Kim, Alix, and Juleka started the campfire. While the soups were slow cooking, many students left to shower and clean themselves from the long hike while others lounged around in exhaustion.

The usual group of four sat at a picnic table. Alya laid across the table, Nino sat on one side resting his head on her stomach while Adrien sat beside him and Marinette across from them. Adrien's stomach rumbled loudly and everyone shot him a look. He rubbed the back of his head bashfully.

"Somebody feed the poor boy, his stomach is getting louder and louder by the minute," Alya complained.

"You know Adrien," Nino directed at his friend, "we are all hungry. And unlike you and Marinette, we actually had to do the full hike so if your stomach could just shut it, that'd be great."

His words were slightly malicious but his tone was teasing, Alya continued, "yeah next time you two decide to run away together and take a short cut, take us with you!"

Marinette squeaked and a blush arose at the notion that her and Adrien intentionally ran away together. She noticed Adrien's cheeks were also dusted with a little pink and the sight made her stomach flutter even worse than the hunger already was. Adrien laughed in embarrassment, apologizing for both his stomach and for taking an unintentional shortcut with Marinette. Alya rolled her eyes at the mention of "unintentional" and made a quote gesture with her fingers to mock him.

"I'd watch out Marinette," Nino laughed, "Maybe underneath Adrien's formal gentlemen persona is an evil, mischievous serial killer who lures innocent girls into the woods to KILL them!"

"Nino!" Adrien punched his friend hard in the arm.

Nino winced painfully, and rubbing his arm said, "see what I mean? There's _evil_ in there!"

The girls laughed and Alya flicked her already pained boyfriend in the nose, "Adrien couldn't even hurt a fly. He's a big softie, I see him more as a mischievous kitten!"

Marinette giggled in agreement, not noticing Adrien stiffen a little guiltily at the mention of kittens.

The soups were soon finished cooking and the class quickly got themselves situated with full bowls and spoons. They scattered about the campsite, sitting at various picnic tables. There was a delicious aroma in the air, of stewed beef and veggies and delicate seasonings.

"God boys you're going to burn your mouths off," Alya noted as the boys devoured their soups.

"So hungry," Adrien spoke through mouthfuls.

"Worth it," Nino added, shoving a spoonful of potatoes into his already full mouth.

Marinette gently blew cool air on her spoonful before placing it in her mouth. She hummed happily at the warmth and taste of the stew, closing her eyes and wiggling her butt in her seat.

"So cute," Adrien whimpered softly.

His eyes widened in surprise and everyone looked at him with opened mouths. Marinette choked on her soup while Adrien turned firetruck red. He ducked his head down shamefully, sliding himself underneath the table.

"I didn't mean to say that out loud," he admitted, causing his best friend beside him to burst out laughing.

"Dude you're embarrassing," Nino said, poking Adrien in the rib with his foot.

Marinette on the other hand was being patted on the back by Alya, "breath girl!"

Adrien came back up to the bench, his face still flushed. He refused to look at anyone, especially Marinette, and he went back to his soup. She too went back to enjoying her soup, a little more conscious about how she acted and her cheeks still warm from Adrien's accidental compliment. Alya and Nino continued their usual banter, discussing random topics like superheroes and music.

Later that evening, most of the class (besides a few who decided to go to bed early) gathered around the campfire for another night of S'mores. On one log, the regular group of four sat snuggled together, the girls in the middle.

"What do you say, Marinette?" Nino said as he reached for a bag of marshmallows, "Will you please grace us with your one of a kind S'mores?"

She laughed, reaching over Alya and taking the bag from Nino, "Only because you asked so nicely!"

"What makes hers different than a normal s'more?" Adrien asked innocently.

Alya clapped her hands, "Oh Agreste, I'll show you! Here I'll make Adrien's s'more first so he can experience a regular one."

Marinette handed her friend a marshmallow and skewer and the two girls went to work s'more building. They finished relatively the same time, but the difference between the two was imperceptible. Alya handed Adrien her s'more; it was what you'd expect. A decently toasted marshmallow, squished between two pieces of graham cracker and a piece of milk chocolate. It didn't look that different from Marinnete's, whose was structured the same way. The only clear difference in physical appearance was that Marinette's marshmallow was perfectly golden around the entire surface, and Alya's had a larger piece of chocolate.

Both boys took bites of their treats. Marinette could hear Nino moan in pleasure and she laughed to herself. Besides her, Adrien remained unphased. The two girls looked at him expectedly, waiting for a reaction.

He looked up at them awkwardly, "Thanks Alya, it's great!"

She laughed loudly, "Don't hold back on me Agreste, tell me what's wrong!"

Adrien scratched his head bashfully, "nothing is wrong! It's just.. missing something is all. But it's still great, really!"

Marinette began to make him another, in which Alya excitedly told Adrien to get ready to compare the flavors. It was finished in no time, and she shyly handed Adrien her creation. He was hesitant at first, suddenly feeling nervous at again having all his friends watch him closely. This time, he threw the entire s'more into his mouth. As soon as he bit down, his body shivered and an unholy moan escaped his throat. Marinette turned bright red and looked away as if she'd witnessed something intimate while Alya and Nino snickered shamelessly.

"God Mari," Adrien sighed blissfully, "I don't know how you do it, but it's heavenly!"

"Thank you Adrien," she squeaked.

"How do you do it," he asked with genuine curiousity as he chewed.

Marinette shook her head, "No idea! Maybe it's the way I roast the marshmallow," she said humbly.

He shrugged, "Whatever it is you're doing, don't ever stop. Maybe you cook with love! That's something my mom used to say really changes the way food can taste!"

"Oh she cooks with loooots of love," Alya sneered.

Marinette smacked her friend's thigh and hissed, "oh stop!"

To the bluenette's great surprise, she felt Adrien drop his head gently on to her lap.

"Is this alright?" He softly asked.

Not trusting her voice, Marinette only nodded quickly in assurance. Her heart beat had suddenly become VERY rapid and probably very loud and she had to focus on steady breathing. Adrien's weight was heavy on her as he relaxed but the weight and pressure of his body was nice on her legs. Hesitantly at first, she brought up a hand to his back and slowly rubbed it in small circles. She heard him sigh in content and so she continued, gently massaging his strong shoulders and then moving up to his head and combing through his soft, golden locks.

She wasn't sure how long they say there for. As time went on, more and more students went to bed and before she knew it only her and Adrien sat out there. Marinette looked up at the beautiful night sky and wondered if Chat Noir was waiting for her yet. She breathed out in slight disappointment, she really didn't want to leave or wake Adrien who was snoring softly in her lap, but she had a duty and there were important things her and Chat needed to discuss. And as much as she hates to admit it, she missed her kitty.

The fire was still crackling faintly, it's glow dim and the warmth from it small but still enjoyable.

"Adrien," she whispered, patting his back to try and wake him.

He groaned a little, turning so that his face was up and facing her. Marinette brought a hand to his cheek, gently feeling the softness of his skin and down to his sharp jaw. His brown eyelashes were long and lay beautifully on his already perfect face. The glow of the fire danced on his skin, making him look angelic. She moved her fingers lightly over his lips, enjoying the smooth texture and wondering how it would feel if she brought hers down to his. Without realizing it, her own face had lowered and she could feel his breath on her own lips. If she just moved forward a little more..

The blonde suddenly moved again, this time turning his face into Marinette's stomach. She pulled away hastily, catching her breathe and panicking at the thought of what she almost did. And while he was sleeping!?

"Marinette what is wrong with you?" She said aloud to herself.

Turns out her voice was loud enough to wake the sleeping model, as he began to stir and opened his eyes. He struggled a little bit in getting up without putting his hands all over her, but Marinette just laughed and grabbed him by the shoulders to help him sit up.

He yawned, "Everyone else went to bed already?"

She nodded, "Yeah, and I figured we should too as it's probably pretty late. I had a good long nap earlier so I'm not too tired but I thought we should at least get you to bed."

He stretched his arms above him and sighed, "You're right. Can I escort you to your cas- er, cabin?"

Marinette tilted her head in confusion, something about his wording was familiar but she tried to ignore it, "yes of course! Thank you!" She smiled at him a little too eagerly but he just laughed.

Adrien stood up, and offered his hand to Marinette. She took it and he pulled her up, and rather than let go right away she shyly intertwined her fingers with his. He bit his lip and looked away but not before she noticed the adorable blush on his face. She held back a warm giggle and tried to relax herself and fully enjoy the sensation of their hands together again.

Too quickly, they were at the door of her cabin. She had another flash of Deja Vu as he took her hand and kissed it, just like Chat Noir had done the other night. The resemblance and feelings were so similar that she couldn't help but freeze.

"Are you alright, Marinette?" Adrien asked, his voice laced with concern.

She looked into his caring, bright green eyes, and responded with a slightly nervous voice, "yeah I just.. Thought of something odd. Um, thank you for everything today Adrien."

He nodded, his face looked a little uncertain and insecure and she hoped she hadn't made him worry too much. Boldly, she grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her. Getting on the tips of her toes, she leaned up and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

"Okay BYE goodnight!" She practically screamed at him as she ran into the cabin and slammed the door shut behind her.

Tikki giggled from Marinette's hoodie pocket. The bluenette shushed her kwami and hurried over to her bed.

"Alya?" Marinette whispered in to the darkness of the cabin room.

Her friend didn't respond but continued to sleep soundly, a pillow on top of her head and her leg splayed over the side of the bed. Marinette chuckled and then opened her pocket for Tikki to fly out.

"I talked to Plagg!" Tikki whispered.

"What?" Marinette made a pout, "When?"

The kwami only smiled, "I went out and found him while you were napping earlier today! We talked, and we have a plan for you and Chat Noir!"

Marinette sat cross legged in her bed and got out a cookie for her Kwami to munch on while she spoke, "I'm listening," she said eagerly.

Tikki thanked the girl for the cookie, took a bite and chewed for a moment before she began, "Okay first I need to give you some background."

The kwami received a nod and so she continued, "It was in Japan, during the Yayoi period. The Ladybug was Queen Himiko, and she was considered so amazing and beautiful that she was the queen of ALL of Japan! She started very young and used the powers of her Miraculous to make the kingdom strong. All who worked for her were woman, except one man and her brother, who was the Chat Noir at the time. Her people adored her, she was loyal and peaceful and such a dedicated leader."

"And did something happen?" Marinette asked in deep interest.

"There was a man who sought to be king. But no one cared, compared to Himiko he was powerless. So he came up with a deceitful plan! He had discovered the fox Miraculous, but he used it for evil rather than good. Using his abilities, he poisoned the gardens in which the people ate from. It was a slow, evil poison. It was sneaky, and when people began dying from illness Himiko couldn't figure out the source. When she finally did, it was too late for simply her Ladybug abilities to help her people. Hundreds had died, many of whom were the woman who worked for her and she was heartbroken. But her brother, Chat Noir, had an idea! Together, they mastered using their abilities together. And when they did so on the entire garden, it restored not only the garden but all of the land. Those who hadn't died yet were healed and restored, the gardens were pure and healthy, and when the man tried to use his tricks again it was impossible as the land had a permanent protection over it!"

Tikki added, "When Himiko died the man became king. But no one respected him! The people were disobedient! It wasn't until a relative of Himiko, a thirteen year old girl named Iyo, became the new ladybug that order in the kingdom was restored and she became the new queen!"

"That's incredible!" Marinette exclaimed and then asked, "But so what exactly did Himiko and her brother do that cleansed everything?"

Tikki fluttered in thrill, "it required Ladybug to summon her lucky charm! And then, Chat Noir would have to cataclysm the item at the exact same time Ladybug used the Miraculous cleanse. By doing so, it created a huge effect of all the evil and poison being destroyed while also cleansing it and making it pure again. It was incredible but it took lots of careful practice. When timed even just slightly off, it would knock out either Ladybug or Chat Noir, whichever move came second, and made them unable to use their powers for about a day. It's risky, especially when emergencies can happen, but I think if you and Chat Noir can master this then you can cleanse the river and save all the animals here!"

Marinette nodded her head eagerly, she was speechless as she took all the information in and wondered if her and Chat Noir would be successful.

"Oh!" Tikki suddenly squeaked in surprise, "Chat Noir is calling you!"

This awoke Marinette from her dumbfounded state and she nodded her head in determination. She jumped out of bed, Tikki following close behind her, and ran out of the cabin door. Marinette snuck back around behind the cabin and then called out to her kwami.

"Tikki, Spots on!"

. . .

"Good evening, my lady!" Chat Noir greeted with a giant smile.

The dread Ladybug had felt in seeing Chat again instantly vanished at the happiness of his smile. It was hard to feel upset or jealous to whoever the girl was that stole his heart when he was giving her a smile like that. She waved and stood beside him at the dock.

"I'm assuming your kwami has spoken with you?" She asked.

He nodded, his golden hair bouncing freely, "Yes! He explained to me Tikki's plan and what we need to practice. And by the way, Tikki was an absolute purrr-easure to meet."

Ladybug rolled her eyes but smiled, "I'm glad you liked her! She is wonderful."

"You mean wonderfur?" He winked.

She snorted but ignored his pun, "So what should we do if one of us knocks out while we do this?"

"Plagg said if one of us passes out, our kwamis can still hold our transformations for some time. So I think we should just do our best to help the other come to. And hopefully no animal monsters come in the next day or so if that does happen.." his voice trailed off at the end, his usual confident demeanor sounding more nervous.

His ears sprung up happily though at a thought, "So Ladybug, did my darling Marinette speak to you about the river then?"

Ladybug laughed, "yes she did. Seems like her and Adrien got some big information. And darling?"

"You caught me," Chat Noir laughed, putting his hands up defensively, "As my princess has seem to stolen my heart!"

Her eyes widened and she choked. Tikki had suggested the idea to her but to hear it from Chat Noir himself was shocking for her.

"Why?" She asked stupidly, and loudly, her tone coming up rude.

Chat was taken aback by her question, "Why? Well why not!"

Ladybug sat down on the dock, hugging her knees to her chest, "Marinette is clumsy, she's awkward and can be shy. There's nothing really special about her. Chloe hates her, her friend's probably pity her and-"

"No!" Her partner cut her off, his voice annoyed and defensive, "Yes Marinette is clumsy, but it's the cutest thing I've ever seen! And she is so brave, just as brave as you even! She stands up for others, she's creative and so talented, everyone adores her and the only reason Chloe is so mean to her is because she's jealous! Marinette is beautiful and selfless, and when I'm around her I feel like I can be my true self! More of my Chat Noir self!"

Ladybug was taken aback by his words. She wondered how in the world Chat could feel so much for her civilian self when he spent most of his time with Ladybug rather than Marinette. Her eyes watered and she quickly blinked back the tears. Marinette couldn't believe he had said such wonderful things about her, the real her, and she wanted to grab him in that moment and hold him tight.

But that would be weird, she was Ladybug after all and not Marinette and at the same time she was feeling incredibly torn on her feelings for Adrien.

"Well you'll have some competition," Ladybug found herself teasing.

Her partner looked at her with large eyes, ears bending flat on his head and he sighed, "Yes, I know Nathaniel has had his eyes on her for sometime and they do have similar interests but-"

The spotted hero burst into a fit of giggles, "Not Nathaniel you silly kitty!" She held her stomach tightly, "Marinette has had a crush on Adrien Agreste since the day she met him! He's your real competition."

"Oh," was all Chat could say, his face suddenly blank and pale.

"Well then," he coughed, "I'll have to challenge the model."

Ladybug smiled at her partner fondly, "I'll be rooting for you then, Chaton. Marinette is a _lucky_ girl, after all."

 **Funny actually, So this is only half of what I wanted to include in this chapter but it's already as long as some of my other chapters (if not more) and so I thought I would get this posted to you guys and move the next section to the next chapter! This one was a lot of fun to write, especially Tikki's little history lesson. I hope you cuties enjoyed it, I'll try to get the next chapter written up soon! I'm currently paused on my commissions because my iPad is too old for the drawing program I use and so it won't work anymore. I ordered an iPad Pro (ouch) but until that comes in I can't continue with my work so that gives me more time to write ;) I'm also 8 weeks pregnant! Which is exciting but dealing with my awful nausea and my crazy toddler son I'm exhausted. So that being said, I'll try to work on the next chapter lots and get it to you all soon. Don't be shy, leave reviews on any thoughts you may have and I'll see you all again soon! - SweetBbyFox**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you all so much for your sweet words! Means a lot to me 3 here's a big chapter that I hope you like!**

The two superheroes traveled together through the forest, moving quickly and gracefully. Ladybug swung from tree to tree, using her yoyo to pull her body swiftly. To her right, Chat Noir was leaping from each tree; doing acrobatic flips and spins and using his staff to balance himself when he over jumped. While she was nervous for what they were about to attempt together, she also felt incredibly calm and free. The wind blowing against her face was soft and every so often she would close her eyes and enjoy the sensations.

Finally, they found the spot they were looking for. It was a large clearing, empty of trees and full of long grass and wildflowers. The area was spacial enough that they had enough room to not worry about hitting any surrounding trees in their training session. Ladybug could hear Chat Noir walking behind her, steadily moving closer to join her side.

He put an arm around her, and with his other hand offered her a dandelion, "You know my lady, if you were a flower, you'd be a damn-delion."

She rolled her eyes and blew away the seeds so that all that remained was a sad little stem.

Ladybug ducked away from Chat's arm and teased, "By the way, dandelions are considered weeds and so I could take offense at that!"

"The most beautiful weed!?" He offered, laughing as he followed her to the middle of the meadow.

They stood together, both a little unsure of what was going to happen.

"Should I use lucky charm then?" Ladybug asked, tilting her head to the side as she looked at her partner.

He stood with a hand on his hip, "I guess so! Good luck, Lady Luck!" He winked at her.

She nodded, and then threw her red and black yoyo high above her, "Lucky charm!" Her voice rang out into the night as hearts floated around them.

Into her hands dropped a plate, on it containing two perfectly created S'mores.

"May I?" Chat Noir asked, his ears perked up in excitement as he had one gloved hand reached out towards a s'more.

Ladybug nodded, offering him a the plate. He took one and tossed the entire thing into his mouth. She took the other, and let her hand holding the plate drop to her side while she enjoyed the sweet treat.

"Delicious! And perfect!" Chat Noir swooned, "Just like Marinette's!"

The spotted heroine stiffened, glancing over at her partner suspiciously. How would HE know what her S'mores tasted like? She suddenly remembered Adrien earlier that night, when he'd walked her to her cabin and acted uncannily like her kitty partner. Ladybug examined Chat Noir. He stood in a proud way, one she'd never really seen Adrien stand. But their body types were incredibly similar, and they both had beautiful golden hair although Chat's was much messier.

She hesitantly walked closer to him, so much that he pulled his face back a little to see her better, "Everything okay bugaboo?"

His eyes were green, and although they were catlike she could see the similarities in color to Adrien's stunning green eyes. She reacher her hand up, and combed his messy bangs so that they were neater and to the side. With her other hand, she covered his eyes and mask.

With a gasp, her hands snapped back to her chest and she took a few steps back. Ladybug's blue eyes were wide in shock and she gasped at her confused partner.

"Oh my god.." she whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth.

He looked suddenly nervous and he reached out towards her, "Ladybug, are you okay? Did you still want to try and combine our powers?"

She looked away, holding herself tight, "Yes of course! Um, give me a second."

"What just happened?" He asked more to himself, scratching his head and messing his hair back up in the process.

Ladybug took a few deep breaths. Now wasn't the time for a freak out. They had important things to do and there was no time for her to speculate..

"I'm ready Chat," she said with determination, though she bit her lip and wouldn't look him directly in the eye.

"Okay.." he said feeling uneasy by her strange behavior, "Cataclysm!"

His clawed hand burst out tiny black bubbles, but he pulled it away, waiting for Ladybug to make her next move.

She threw the plate in the air, yelling out, "Miraculous Lady-"

But then her voice broke and she paused. Because as she watched Chat Noir jump into the air to cataclysm the plate, rather than seeing the young man in black and cat ears she saw the boy she'd known for years now and had loved since day one. She watched as Adrien Agreste reached for the plate, and watched as his face turned to fear when he realized Ladybug didn't complete the cleanse in time.

"Miraculous-" she yelled out in a panic, trying to correctly say the phrase but she was just too late as Chat Noir had already cataclysmed the spotted plate.

"Ladybug!" She heard him yell as there was a blinding flash of neon green light.

The last thing she saw was Chat Noir, no; Adrien, running at her.

. . .

"I'm not pine without you!"

Ladybug's ears were ringing but she could hear the voice yelling out pun after pun. There was a light weight on her stomach as well. She squinted, trying to understand where she was and what was going on. There was a pile of pine cones on her tummy, neatly stacked and balanced. Her vision was a little blurred and her head ached, but she tried sitting up.

"Ladybug!" Chat Noir exclaimed and hurried to kneel beside his partner. The pine cones rolled off of her and he dropped the ones he had in his hands. He helped her up and offered her a water bottle.

"I knew you'd wake up soon," he gave her a shit eating grin and winked, "I really beLEAFed in you!" He placed a large leaf on top of her head.

She weakly punched him, "You're such a dork."

He laughed, "I knew if I made some fantastic forest puns, you WOOD wake up!"

Ladybug smiled despite the headache she had and she thanked Chat Noir for the water, "What happened?" She asked him between sips, "And how have you not detransformed yet?"

He leaned back and sighed, "My kwami recharged right after you passed out. And I'm not sure. I thought we had it timed perfectly and then you paused just as you were doing the cleanse.. are you okay? You were acting kind of weird. If you weren't ready we didn't have to try yet! I'm so sorry that you can't use your powers now." His ears went back in sorrow.

She reached up and patted his head, "Its alright, it's not your fault. I must have let my mind get away from me. I can't remember for the life of me though any of it. The most recent thing I remember was us finding this meadow."

"Really?" He questioned, and then tried to remind her, "Well, your lucky charm brought us a plate of S'mores. And that's when you started acting weird, touching my hair and stuff too.."

Ladybug closed her eyes and tried to remember based off of what he told her. She could remember the S'mores, and eating them, and Chat mentioning Marinette.. oh. Now she remembered.

"Adrien," she whispered softly, opening her eyes and looking at her concerned kitty.

"What did you say?" His face pale and his body went stiff.

"Oh minou," she sighed, falling back to the soft grassy floor and holding her pulsing head.

"How did you know?" He whispered, looking small and innocent and so Adrien like that Ladybug almost laughed.

"I just realized some things and put the pieces together I guess," she smiled at him, "if I wasn't so tired right now I think I'd be in more disbelief."

He looked at the sky, "Is it really so hard to believe?"

She saw the uncertainty in his eyes, the insecurity and the fear and she gently grabbed his hand.

"Chaton, Adrien. You're my partner as well as my best friend. I feel incredibly stupid actually for not realizing it sooner because it really does make so much sense. You're both incredibly sweet and caring, and I've learned recently too that you're both so dorky!" She giggled to herself, and then squeezed his hand in assurance, before letting go, "I'm glad it's you, kitty. I wouldn't want you to be anyone else."

His shoulders relaxed and he laid himself down beside her in the grass, "Thank you," he said softly. Then he poked her gently in the ribs, "So, my lady, does this cat get the honor of knowing who you are beneath that spotted mask? It's only fair," he teased.

She shook her head, and then gave his golden bell a little flick, "Not yet, but I promise soon. I'm not quiet ready just yet."

"You think I was ready?" He pretended to gasp but then laughed nicely, "I understand. Whenever you're ready Ladybug, I'll be patiently waiting."

"Thank you for understanding," she said,

They lay there a little longer, mostly to let Ladybug rest before they traveled back to the docks. She lay there in content. Her heart was full, she was unsure of what their future held but no longer did she have the inner turmoil of which boy to pick. Adrien, Chat Noir, they were one in the same and she felt so at peace. Her earring suddenly beeped loudly, startling her.

"Tikki's probably exhausted. Normally she'd have dropped your transformation long ago huh?" Chat Noir asked.

"Somehow she's kept me as Ladybug for this long. But I don't want to strain her, you're right that she's probably worn out. We should hurry back now," she carefully sat up, her head still a little dizzy.

He got up much quicker beside her, and then helped pull her up to her feet, "Let me know if you need any help okay?"

She gave him a thumbs up, "I will, but I got this!"

They ran back into the woods, and then repeated their leaping and swinging like they had on the way there. Ladybug was doing fine at first, but she could feel her body growing weaker and weaker after each swing and pull of her yoyo. After a couple minutes of swinging, Tikki gave her another warning beep and she knew she needed to stop.

"Chat!" She gasped out as she stopped in a tree branch.

He had gotten a little ahead of her naturally, but he immediately pulled back and came to her aid. Chat squatted down in front of her, and then gently helped her get on his back. He carried her piggyback style, and then leapt as fast as he could through the trees.

"I only have a couple more minutes," she breathed out feebly.

"I gotchu," he said confidently, "We'll be at the docks in just another minute. Will you be okay getting back to your family?"

She'd forgotten her lie about camping with family and she smiled slightly, "Yeah, I promise I'll be okay getting there."

Chat Noir was true to his word, and they were finally at the dock by the lake. He bid her a goodnight, and told her to not hesitate to contact him if she needed any help. Quickly, he left, giving her privacy incase she detransformed.

She walked slowly from the dock back to the campsite. Now that she knew where Chat Noir was going, she avoided the path that passed directly by Adrien and Nino's cabins and walked behind. As she was walking, her earring gave one final beep and her transformation ended. Marinette fell to her knees, and Tikki landed in the dirt in front of her.

"Tikki!" Marinette murmed, tenderly picking up the kwami and holding her close to her chest, "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine!" The soft, high voice answered, "Just need some cookies and lots of sleep."

"I can promise you both," Marinette said, standing back up and hurrying back to her cabin.

She snuck in, laid Tikki on a pillow and got some chocolate chip cookies from her backpack. Marinette handed the cookies to her exhausted kwami, and crawled into the covers beside her.

"Get some rest, Marinette," Tikki whispered as her chosen closed her eyes, "You and Chat Noir can try again another day. Everything will work out, I believe in you!"

. . .

The next day, the students received their promised Free Day from Ms. Bustier. A few slept in until noon, and many were complaining the whole morning about how sore their bodies felt from the long hike.

Marinette was feeling very tired that morning, but it wasn't out of place as Alya and Nino too were feeling the exhaustion. The only one who seemed perfectly fine was Adrien. They were sitting in a grassy patch, relaxing in the shade of a large tree.

The bluenette struggled a little. She could go on, pretending as if she had no idea that the boy she was crazy for was also her masked, kitty partner. But naturally, rather than continue to shy away from him she found herself wanting to be with him more than ever. As he leaned against a tree in relaxation, she gave in to her desires and confidently plopped herself beside the blond boy and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Everyone looked at her in surprise, it was strange to see Marinette act so boldly with Adrien. His own eyes were wide but her action brought an immediate smile to his face. The contact of their skin against each other was nice, as Marinette's arms felt cool while Adrien's were warm. He wore a black tshirt while she wore a cute, lavender loose tank top.

"How are you feeling this morning, Marinette?" Adrien asked politely.

She turned her head to look at him, and with a Chat Noir like grin she purred back flirtatiously, "Absolutely puuurrrrfect."

He gulped, his face turning bright pink and looked away, "T-that's great!" He choked out.

Alya's jaw dropped as she watched her best friend flirt with the boy, seemingly confident and doing it so naturally. Nino too was surprised but found it incredibly amusing to see Adrien so flustered by the girl. The blonde boy struggled, he was so shocked and yet he had the stupidest smile on his face.

The flirting didn't last long, as suddenly Mylene was heard screaming. The four looked up to see short, little Mylene running away from the bathrooms towards a picnic table. Ivan ran out from another direction, sweeped her up to take her away to safety. At the picnic table, Nathaniel stood up in confusion and looked behind him to see four large, sickly looking rats running towards him.

Marinette didn't stop to think about what she was doing, she just moved with instinct. She had jumped off the floor, sprinted towards Nathaniel and tackled him to the ground just as a rat leapt straight for his head. The rat flew over their heads just barely, but before they could move away both students felt sharp teeth sinking into their arms. They yelled out in pain, swinging their arms to get the scraggly rats off of them. Nathaniel rolled on the floor, trying to squish the rat into the ground so it would let go of his arm. Marinette tried ramming her arm into the wood of the picnic table beside them, but both found the rats relentless as they wouldn't let go. Another rat bounded over the table, and took a large bite of Marinette's exposed shoulder. She screamed as she felt it's sharp teeth sink into her flesh, frantically trying to pull it off while also feeling the other rat on her opposite arm. The remaining rat ran about the campsite, trying to find prey of its own.

"Get your nasty paws off of her!"

She looked up to see Chat Noir swing his staff and knock the rat off of her shoulder. It pulled away some flesh with it and she could feel blood going down her arm as the wound stung mercilessly. Chat came for the other rat, slamming the butt of his staff down on its head. It squeaked out angrily, but scurried away in fear.

"Princess are you alright?" Chat asked in concern as he helped Marinette up and looked at her bloody arms.

"I'll be fine," she winced, "But help Nathaniel!"

They looked to see Nathaniel still wrestling his rat, tears in his eyes and he tried to pull the rat off of his blood soaked arm. Chat Noir extended the staff, smacking the rat off of Nathaniel's arm. Marinette ran to help him while Chat Noir hunted for the last rat.

"Chat Noir!" Alya called out, pointing at the rat that was heading straight for her and Nino.

The black superhero dashed as quickly as he could across the campsite, holding his staff above his head like a sword. He swung it down with all his might on the rat, which caused it to burst into a disgusting splatter of blood and black slime.

After Marinette had helped Nathaniel use his shirt to cover his wound, she ran behind a tree to transform.

"Tikki," she called, "Spots-"

"Marinette no!" Tikki blurted, rushing to her chosen's face, "We can't transform right now! Remember what happened last night! We need to rest! And look at you, you're covered in blood!"

"You're right!" Mari groaned into her hands, realizing how much pain she was in and sighing.

"Marinette!" She could hear Alya calling for her.

Tikki flew back into Marinette's shorts pocket. The bluenette came around the tree and hurried to her friend.

"Oh God Marinette!" Alya cried out, untying the hoodie that was around her waist and using it to try and stop the bleeding.

They had her sit on the picnic bench besides Nathaniel who was still shirtless and holding his shirt to his bleeding arm. Rose and Juleka brought them water while Ms. Bustier got out her first aid kit. Alya tied Marinette's messy hair into a bun for her while Ms. Bustier tended to the red haired boy first.

"Please help Marinette first," Nathaniel pleaded, "she got bitten twice."

The teacher shook her head, "I'll get to her in a minute but your one bite is considerably deeper than hers. You'll need stitches."

All of the students gathered around the table in concern for their classmates. Adrien ran towards them from behind a cabin, everyone too focused on Marinette and Nathaniel to notice him. He hurried beside Mari and watched her in sorrow.

"Marinette I'm so sorry!" He said in defeat, his head down.

His apology made no sense to others but Marinette understood that as Chat he'd wanted to protect her. She shook her head, and told him he had nothing to be sorry for. Nathaniel looked up at them and sighed.

"This is my fault. Marinette tried to protect me and I ended up just getting her hurt too," from behind his bangs, his bright eyes watered sadly.

"No!" Marinette yelled out, startling those who were listening, "This isn't anyone's fault! Accidents happen but everything's going to be okay!"

She tried to give both sad boys reassuring smiles. Rose commented on how brave Marinette was and Chloe rolled her eyes, saying the blood was gross and her and Sabrina walked away to do their nails and continue relaxing. Alya poured water over Marinette's wounds like Ms. Bustier was doing for Nathaniel. The bites were deep, and her shoulder had a good chunk of skin missing and it burned as the water ran over it. Tears came to her eyes as she bit her lip and clenched tightly.

"All done," Ms. Bustier said as she moved away from Nathaniel. His arm now stitched up and bright red in irritation but no longer bleeding.

Alya moved out of the way so Ms. Bustier could help. Marinette didn't need stitches, but her teacher put a generous amount of ointment over the bites and then bandaged them up with white gauze.

"You both received rabies shots recently, as was required to come here, correct?" Ms. Bustier asked sternly.

Both Nathaniel and Marinette nodded, and their teacher sighed in relief, "Good. Please don't hesitate to tell me if anything feels wrong or infected. I'm worried that you two may end up becoming some sort of monster like Sabrina and I had. If you feel any sort of changes happening, let me know right away and we can do something to keep you and the others safe until Ladybug and Chat Noir show up."

She left the two, encouraging them to rest and avoid the sun or over heating.

"Do you think you two dudes are going to become giant rat beasts?" Nino asked, adjusting his glasses as he sat on the other bench of the table. Alya sat beside him, while Adrien sat beside Marinette.

Nathaniel, who was on Mari's other side, let out a long breath, "probably. Marinette, I really am so, SO sorry.."

The bluenette vigorously shook her head, placing a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder, "No! Nathaniel please stop apologizing, this isn't your fault. If anything, I'm sorry I couldn't get you out of the way."

Alya looked up in thought, "You know what was weird to me though?" She said loudly, interrupting Nathaniel and Marinette's conversation.

"What?" Adrien asked, his voice sounding a little upset.

"Ladybug!" Alya waved her arms in the air, "She didn't show up! Chat Noir did, but there was no Ladybug! Do you think something's happened to her?"

Marinette glanced at Adrien, curious to see his reaction. His brow furrowed in worry and she felt bad for making her partner concerned. She spoke up, a little hesitantly.

"I'm sure Ladybug is okay. Maybe she was just busy?" She offered.

"Maaaaybe," Alya said suspiciously, "But if you guys DO end up turning into rat monsters, I hope she shows up to help Chat Noir defeat you guys!"

Marinette gulped, she hadn't thought about that. She felt Tikki stiffen in her pocket as well. Looking at Adrien, Marinette could see his face was pale with fear and she knew it was because he knew Ladybug wasn't able to transform for at least another day.

"But you know," Marinette spoke up, breaking Adrien from his spaced out trance, "Even if Ladybug didn't show up, I know Chat Noir is strong enough to handle Nathaniel and I on his own!"

Adrien gave her a grateful smile, and she looked at him proudly. Alya noticed the looks between the two and squinted at them with some suspicion.

"Do you think it'll be painful?" Nathaniel asked sadly, "turning into a monster?"

Marinette gave him a reassuring smile, "I think we'll be okay! And Chat Noir will save us!"

The red headed boy nodded, "We should get some rest though, Marinette. I'll see you guys later." He waved with his good arm, and then walked away to his cabin.

"Why don't we all go hang out in our cabin?" Alya invited, "That way Marinette can relax if she wants to."

Nino and Adrien agreed and so the four went to the girl's cabin. They snacked and played a few rounds of Spoons, until Marinette's left arm started bleeding again and they realized they should probably play a gentler game. After playing gold fish, Marinette let out a long yawn and decided she wanted to take a small nap. She curled up in a blanket beside Adrien and fell asleep listening to her friend's laughing and playing games while Adrien occasionally ran his fingers through her soft, dark blue hair.

. . .

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Alya quickly jumped off of the bed, and hurried over to the urgent knocking behind the door. She swung the door open, other hand on her hip as her eyebrow furrowed.

"What in the he-" she started but Nathaniel burst into the room, wearing sweatpants and a black hoodie all too warm for the weather that day. He was covered in sweat and his face panicked.

"Where's Marinette?" He demanded.

Adrien leaned forward to show the sleeping girl by his side, though the only thing visible was the top of her head as the rest of her was curled up in and buried underneath a blanket, "Right here? Nathaniel you okay?"

"No!" He yelled in frustration, "Its starting!"

He pulled his long, red hair back to show them his ears, which were bright pink and definitely abnormally larger than they should have been. Then, he shamelessly pulled down his pants to reveal not only his black and yellow striped boxers but his legs. Alya shielded her face instinctively while the boy's gaped. Nathaniel's legs were covered in a thick, dark brown layer of fur. The panicking red head boy then pulled up his sleeves to reveal not only hairy arms but to emphasize his fingernails which were growing very long and sharp.

Nino yelped, pointing at Nathaniel's face, "Uh dude, your face is like.. changing..."

The three watched before their very eyes as his teeth formed into sharp buck teeth, his nose turned upright and pinker, and long thin, whisker like hair began sprouting from his cheeks. His eyes got smaller and turned darker and darker and as he tried to yell out his voice got higher and much squeakier.

"Check on Marinette!" Alya suddenly yelled.

They pulled the blanket away from the sleeping bluenette and Alya and Nino both screamed in unison. Adrien stood up quickly, stepping away from the oblivious girl. Like Nathaniel, her arms and legs were covered in thick fur. Her fur was a blue grey toned color, and her whiskers were more silver than black.

Alya's face took on a look of confidence and bravery and she suddenly began shouting instructions to the frazzled boy's and the horrified red head, "Boys! Out!" She pointed at the door, "Get Nathaniel out of here and maybe lock him in the bathroom or something! Warn everyone before anyone gets hurt!"

"What about you and Mari?" Adrien asked as he pushed Nathaniel out the cabin door.

Alya was beside Marinette, patting her head awkwardly in hopes of keeping her asleep a little longer, "As soon as you guys leave I'm going to get her clothes off of her so she doesn't ruin them while she becomes a rat monster. She designed these shorts herself and I know she'd be devastated if they were ruined!"

The boys stared at her blankly, and Nino shook his head, "Girls and their priorities! Okay Adrien, let's go!"

The blonde nodded at his friend and they pulled the squeaking Nathaniel out of the cabin. Alya could hear them outside yelling, warning everyone to hide and find a safe place. She turned to Marinette.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir will be here soon girl," she sighed, "They'll save you."

Alya quickly and gently pulled Marinette's clothing off of her, tossing them into a neat pile on the other side of Marinette's bed. Mari turned on to her back, uncurling from her ball form and stretched out her arms and legs. Alya cringed, looking at Marinette's long rodent like nails and hairiness. The bluenette yawned, and opened her eyes. They were still large, but almost all black like demon eyes. She looked at Alya, confused by how pale and horrified she looked.

"What?" Marinette literally squeaked out.

She jumped at the sound of her own voice, and then looked down at her naked body. What she expected to see was her usual nakedness, but instead found her entire body covered in grey fur. Her hands went up to her face and she gasped at the feelings of whiskers and fur growing on her cheeks.

"Alya, run!" Marinette pleaded, "Before I hurt you!"

Her friend bravely ran forward and wrapped her tanned arms around the furry girl, "I love you Marinette! Don't worry, the two coolest heroes in the world will soon come and save you!"

Marinette returned the embrace, and then gently pushed Alya away, "Go!"

Alya hurried out, leaving the cabin door open behind her so Marinette could safely and easily leave once she lost control of her body. Marinette pulled the blanket back over her body and shuddered.

"Tikki?" She called out.

The red kwami appeared, underneath the blanket with her chosen, "Are you in any pain, Marinette?" She asked in worry.

Marinette shook her head, "I feel incredibly weird, but it doesn't hurt. Tikki, will Chat be okay on his own?"

Tikki nodded, giving Marinette an assuring smile, "Yes, it'll be hard be he can do this. I'm so sorry this is happening to you Marinette. I wish I could do something!"

"It's okay," Marinette peeped, "I don't know how much longer I can talk for, Tikki. It's getting harder to focus.."

She twiddled with her rodent hands, impatiently awaiting the change to finish. The kwami kissed Marinette on her now pink nose, "You look more like a rat than Marinette now so I'm sure very soon. I'm going to go now then. Be careful Marinette, please don't hurt yourself too badly." Tikki phased out of the blanket and left the rodent girl to be alone.

Over the next couple of minutes, Marinette's head changed into the shape of a rat's, all remains of her blue hair gone. Her body bloated a little, especially in the belly and butt area, her thighs significantly larger too. A long, hairy pink tail swished about behind her, and suddenly Marinette lost all of her thoughts and was completely the giant rat.

The grey rat shredded the pink blanket apart, ripping it off of her body. She scampered off of the bed and out the cabin, nose high in the air and sniffing. The campsite appeared empty, but Marinette could smell people close by as well as hear whispers and movement from different areas. To her right, she saw another large brown rat coming at her. He was a lot like her in appearance, except larger and his eyes were smaller. On his right arm, sat the usual dark purple bruise blotch. Marinette had two, one on her arm and the other on the opposite shoulder. Both bodies stiffened, smelling each other quickly to communicate something and then going separate ways as they hunted for the humans. Neither had very good sight, so they relied on their hearing, sense of smell, and whiskers to understand the area around them.

Marinette closed in on the girls bathroom. She stood on her hind legs, her height just barely lower than the doorway. Her nose twitched as she sniffed, smelling multiple people within the bathroom. With her head, she nudged the door but found it wouldn't move. The grey rat backed away a few feet, and then charged it head on. Her strength was incredible and the door flew down.

Loud screams could be heard inside the bathroom. Marinette ran inside, turning the corner and finding Sabrina and Chloe hiding beneath the sinks. She turned her hips, so that her rear was facing them. Her long, pink tail latched out and snatched Chloe away from the wall. The rough tail wrapped around the screaming blonde girl, like a snake that's caught its prey. She left behind Sabrina, and hurried out of the bathrooms to find Nathaniel.

The larger brown rat was found quickly, in his own tail he had wrapped up Max who was struggling to free himself. Marinette followed Nathaniel into his cabin, where his room has been torn apart and turned into a little nesting den. Both of them tightened their tails, squeezing until Chloe and Max passed out. They threw the two students into the nests, and then quickly exited and Nathaniel slammed the cabin door shut behind him with a flick of his tail.

Marinette was on her way back to the bathrooms to go back for Sabrina, when she smelt a familiar stench of cheese. Her nose twitched, she stopped in her tracks and turned around to find none other than Chat Noir. He stood confidently, staff in hand beside him as he examined the large rat before him.

"As a rodent, you sure are a mouse-terpiece!" He winked. Marinette's ear slightly shuddered in annoyance. She sensed Nathaniel coming back, and looked past Chat Noir to see her rat companion charge at the unaware Cat hero.

"Chat Noir! Behind you!" A tiny voice called out.

Just in time too, as Chat Noir barely spun around and used his staff to block Nathaniel from toppling over him. The staff collided with the brown rat's head, the two pushing against each other. Nathaniel was stronger, and still sent Chat Noir sliding back. He composed himself quickly, getting back in an action stance and ready to fight back. The two rats approached him, some what hesitantly. A red blur shot past them, and landed on Chat Noir's shoulder.

"Tikki!" He greeted her, "thanks for the warning! But what are you doing here?"

"I've come to help you the best I can!" She said boldly, "after all, your Ladybug is unable to help out in this moment."

Chat Noir sent a nervous glance at Tikki, "she isn't harmed is she?"

The red kwami shook her head, "Not yet. But she is in a.. hairy situation right now."

The blonde hero's eyes widened, "Did she get turned into a rat too!?"

Tikki rolled her eyes, "You could say that, but it's time to focus Chat Noir! Looks like they're plotting something!"

They watched as the two rats stood close, they gave out soft squeaks and their whiskers quivered. Marinette suddenly turned and stared directly at Chat Noir, her stare so blank and focused it made him shiver. Suddenly, she was running at him, sliding in the dirt and turning her body abruptly to try and smack him with her long tail. He jumped over it, dashing past her and aiming first for Nathaniel. The bruised arm was on the opposite side, so Chat Noir flipped himself over the brown rat to try and get a clear view of the bruise.

"Cataclysm!" He called out, activating his power of destruction.

He aimed for the bruise, running directly at Nathaniel with his arm out. But the rat was clever, waiting till the last second to swiftly move away and dodge it, off balancing Chat and sending him flying past. He almost fell, but caught himself before accidentally wasting the cataclysm. The blonde boy hissed in annoyance, turning back around to face the waiting rats, curious as to what the cat would do next.

"Seems like a classic game of cat and mouse," the hero sighed, holding his bubbling black hand away from himself.

This time he ran for Mari, again dodging her tail and landed on her back. He used his free hand to hold on tight, while trying to get a clear shot of one of her bruises. The one on her shoulder was closer to him, so he leaned forward to get it. But as he was about to touch the bruise, Nathaniel ran at them and head butted Chat Noir off of the grey rat. Chat Noir grabbed Nathaniel by the ear, holding on tightly and swinging his body around to directly hit the bruise on the brown rat's arm.

Nathaniel got up on his hind legs, body turning black and bubbling. A single, large black bubble spread around him and then burst, leaving a tired and scared Nathaniel. Chat Noir ran to him, helped him up and encouraged him to find safety while he dealt with Marinette.

The grey rat was speckled in some of the black goo, her body shaking uncomfortably at the sensation of it on her fur. She turned away from Chat Noir, running for Nathaniel's cabin to hide in the nest. Chat Noir took this chance to hide in the woods, release his transformation, and allowed Plagg to recharge himself with some Camembert.

While Plagg ate his cheese, Tikki clutched Adrien's sleeve and pulled him closer to her.

"I have some concerns," the little red kwami told him.

Adrien turned to her, "Like what?"

She twirled her hands about nervously, "Well.. Marinette has _two_ bruises, not one. But you can only use one cataclysm at a time. And I'm concerned about what will happen when you just do one before the other."

"Do you think I'll hurt her?" Adrien asked in fear.

"It's possible.." Tikki moaned, "And I'm worried because she's already extra weak right now. I'm scared.. I'm scared it'll break our bond. She already can't transform now!" The kwami's eyes watered and she covered her face.

"Your bond?" Adrien said in confusion, "but why would you have a bond with Marinette? And can't transform? You don't mean..."

He leaned back against the tree harshly, gasping as he looked at the quivering red kwami and his own black one who was listening closely. Plagg gave Adrien an apologetic look, and nodded his head. Tikki kept her face hidden, body shaking as she cried in fear.

Adrien's voice was barely a whisper, as he choked out, "Marinette is Ladybug."

 **And now they both know each other's identities AHHH! Haha leave reviews, I love hearing your thoughts!**


	14. Chapter 14

**So I finally drew some art for this fic! I posted it on my Facebook art page, just search on Facebook, "SweetBbyFox" and you'll find it! It's for an upcoming scene in the next and last chapter. So kind of a sneak peak ;) Hope you wonderful people enjoy this chapter, as it's the second to last one for this story!**

"I can't fucking do this!"

His fist collided harshly with the tree, as the two watching kwami rushed to him.

"Kid, calm down!" Plagg yelled back into Adrien's face, his glowing green eyes angered.

Tikki was more gentle, her voice cracking as tears rolled down her cheeks, "We can do this. YOU can do this, Adrien."

The blonde boy looked back and forth between the two of them, his face still ghostly pale as he glanced down at his bloody knuckles. He ran his other hand through his hair, giving out a shaky sigh as he sank to the floor.

"I can't risk hurting her forever.." he whimpered, "She's everything to me..."

Tikki floated down to his eye level, "But she NEEDS you. Only you can save her, Adrien, you have to do something!"

Plagg joined Tikki, and placed one tender paw on Adrien's forehead, causing the young man to look up with teary eyes, "Adrien, you're Chat Noir. You're fucking the Chat Noir and if there's anyone who can save Ladybug and your princess, then it's YOU! So get your ass off this floor, stop crying like Tikki, and go save your girlfriend!"

Adrien stood up, wiping the tears from his face with his arm and then gently grabbing both Plagg and Tikki in his hands, "Thanks you two, I promise I'll make you both proud!"

Plagg rolled his eyes, his lips curving into a smile and Tikki patted Adrien's wrist, "We're already proud of you, Adrien."

He nodded in gratitude, took a deep breath and then said boldly, "Plagg, Claws out!"

The kwami was sucked into his ring quickly, and then with a flash of green, in Adrien's place stood Chat Noir. Tikki blinked away the last of the tears she had, and rushed to the hero's face. She gave him a light, sweet kiss on the cheek, and then pulled away. Her bright blue eyes were full of hope and confidence, reminding Adrien of Ladybug.

"Go get her, Chat!"

He winked at Tikki, a huge grin on his face, "Time for this cat to catch himself a cute little mouse!"

The hero sprinted out of the forest, ran into the cleared campgrounds, jumped dramatically over multiple picnic tables and then dove for Nathaniel's cabin where Marinette, in her rat form, was hiding. He kicked open the door, causing Marinette to let out a startled shriek. She backed away from the door, crawling into the nest she'd made where Chloe and Max both lay, still out cold. Chat Noir clutched his staff tightly, holding it in front of his body in defense as he took cautious steps towards the nervous female rat. He felt a little anxious in such a tight space with her, Marinette's large, furry body taking up a good portion of the cabin's room. Her tail twitched in anticipation, Chat Noir carefully glancing at it every so often.

With a loud snap, her pink tail sprang at him. He barely dodged it, smacking her in the head with his staff and back flipping away and sliding out of the cabin. Marinette followed, her eyes narrowed in anger as she stomped out after him. She would leap towards him, tail lashing out in anger and frustration and she continued to miss him just by millimeters. Chat Noir had a devious smile on his face, confidently dodging each of her attacks and continuing to smack her roughly with his staff, not hard enough to really hurt her but enough to stun her each time. Her body began to slow down, and her tail whips were beginning to get less and less accurate as soon as the gap between her tail and Chat Noir's body began to grow. Marinette stopped suddenly, breathing heavily as her large grey body sat in exhaustion.

"Starting to make a lot of Mouse-takes, huh darling?" Chat Noir whistled out, standing in front of the large rodent with his arms hanging over the staff, which laid relaxed across his shoulder.

He moved closer to the girl, putting out a clawed hand gently on her nose, "I'm going to save you Mari, I promise." His voice was laced with love and the words were spoken softly.

She backed away from the cat hero, growling and teeth sneering. Chat Noir looked her over, a smile on his lips but his eyes were sad. He examined the two bruises, one on her shoulder and the other on her arm. An idea struck him, and his eyes narrowed in concentration as he estimated the distance from the two bruises.

"Hey princess!" He called out to the tired rat, "you feline up for a game of cat and mouse?"

Chat ran towards her, staff extended. He used it to poke her, prodding her side and face with it just hard enough to annoy her.

The rat let out a sigh, somewhat reluctantly standing up to face Chat Noir. His staff spun, and then he swung it hard like a bat right into her ribs. It sent the rat falling over, squeaking out in alarm. He winced at her fall, apologizing under his breath. She quickly got up, back on to fours, her tail swinging angrily behind her. Marinette dove for Chat, mouth snapping on air and just missing his face. He rolled away quickly, taunting her with obnoxious meows.

"This cat too clawsome for you to even get once huh?" He sneered at her, angering her more.

Marinette suddenly began to zigzag, her head down and her body moving swifter than before. She head butted herself right into Chat Noir's chest, sending him falling backwards. She toppled over him, her large rodent hands gripping his shoulders painfully tight. He struggled to free himself, wincing at the pain from her squeezing him. Her tail came forward, and attempted to wrap itself around his body. She almost had him, almost began to squeeze the breath out of him, but he quickly extended his staff right into her throat, causing her to back away from him and choke momentarily. Chat Noir rolled off of the floor, stretching his shoulders as he started to run away.

She sped at him again, her body clearly exhausted and moving slow despite the effort she was putting forth. Chat Noir jumped over a picnic table, sprinted behind the rat, quickly crawled up her back, hopped high into the air and brought his staff down painfully hard on her head. Immediately after, he jumped away from her to watch as she swayed back and forth, and then fell on to her back, belly up towards the air and furry arms awkwardly sprawled out.

Tikki appeared beside Chat Noir, worriedly throwing a glance at Marinette, "Now's a good time while she passed out."

Chat nodded his head, approaching the fallen rat.

"I have an idea, Tikki, but I'm not sure it'll work," Chat said to the red kwami.

"We believe in you, Chat Noir," she smiled at him, "Plagg and I both!"

He raised both hands up, away from his face, and shouted out, "Cataclysm!"

For a movement, his eyes flashed out a brilliant neon green light, and then it vanished as not one, but both of his hands bubbled out the black power of destruction. His face beamed, and he turned to Tikki.

"I did it!" He exclaimed.

Her crystal blue eyes were wide in shock, mouth dropped open as she gasped, "I've never seen a Chat Noir do that before!"

He smirked, turning back to Marinette, "Guess I'm one of a kind?"

Chat kept his hands a safe distance away from himself, his arms up and cautious of his surroundings. He bent down, lifting one leg over and sitting on Marinette's soft, fluffy chest. She breathed deeply, but was still completely knocked out. He brought his hands forward, one hovering over the shoulder bruise and the other over her arm.

"Please work, please be okay after this.." he muttered, and then pressed both bubbling hands forward at the same time, making contact with both bruises.

There was a blast, and Chat Noir was sent flying back. He landed roughly in the dirt, Tikki laying a few feet away from him. They were covered in the same thick black slime as from the previous monsters. But this time, there had been no bubble, the explosion has been instant and from Mari herself. Chat crawled to Tikki, gently picking up her body as she lay alive, but unconscious. He looked up, frantically searching for Marinette.

She was laying in the same spot as she was in her rat form before. Her body was completely drenched in the blackness, a thick layer covering her naked body so much that she wasn't revealing. Chat Noir got up from the floor, body aching painfully, and ran to Mari, still carrying Tikki in his hands. Alya burst out from a cabin, Nino running behind her. She carried in her arms a large towel. Running for Nathaniel's cabin, Kim and Sabrina ran out to help Max and Chloe.

"Marinette!" Alya choked out, kneeling beside the girl and gently wrapping the towel around her. She held her friend closely, while Chat sat beside them awkwardly.

"What is that?" Nino asked, pointing at Tikki.

"Oh," Chat stumbled a little with his words, "Just a magical God that uh, helps us transform. I'll take care of it, don't mind it.."

He quickly hid the kwami behind his back and then looked at Alya, "I need to go, I'm going to detransform soon.. please take care of her, I fear she's going to be very weak and ill when she wakes up."

Alya looked at Chat suspiciously, "You really care for her don't you?"

All he could do was nod, thanking the two friends and then running away into the woods with Tikki. He could hear other students and Ms. Bustier behind him.

He dropped his transformation, and Plagg flew out to face him, "I'll take care of Tikki, you go check on your princess!"

Adrien thanked the Kwami, leaving him a generous piece of Camembert and then running out from a different direction than the one he'd entered as Chat Noir, to join his classmates and check on Mari.

. . .

"I'm her best friend!" Alya was yelling. Why was she yelling?

"Well she's.. she's.. MY best friend! That's a girl! My girl best friend!" Adrien?

"Nice, bro." Nino, sarcastic as hell too.

"Adrien, honey, we really do need to get her cleaned up. And you cant come with us. Alya, I'll help you in the showers alright? Let me get my things and I'll meet you there." And that was Ms. Bustier?

Marinette couldn't see. She couldn't move, couldn't do anything really but she could hear, and it sounded like Adrien and Alya were.. fighting?

"Let me at least carry her there! She's probably too heavy for you!" Adrien pleaded.

Alya scoffed, "Back off Agreste I bet I have more muscle than you anyways. Plus Marinette is like 3 lbs, so I GOT THIS."

"But-" Adrien started and then Nino cut him off.

"Dude it's okay, let Alya take care of her for now. Plus Mari's naked under the towel and idk like let's just let Alya deal with that.

They were moving, that much Marinette could tell. And from what she'd heard, Alya was carrying her. Wait. Naked? Was Marinette naked? She wanted to scream, jump and run away, but of course she couldn't do any of that. Her mouth wouldn't even move, though she tried.

She then realized that Adrien and Nino's voices were no longer present. Was that the sound of water running?

"Don't worry, girl, we'll get you all cleaned up," Alya said softly, her voice sad.

"Thank you," Marinette whispered, just barely audible.

Alya screamed in joy and Ms. Bustier clapped her hands, "You're conscious Marinette! Good! Let's get your hair and face cleaned up first so you can try to open your eyes properly."

Ms. Bustier placed a stool next to the stream of water, and Alya carried Marinette over to it. She gently dropped Marinette onto the wooden seat, and took off the gunky, slime covered towel. They filled a bowl with warm water, and then poured it over Marinette's head. Alya scrubbed Marinette's hair with shampoo while Ms. Bustier tenderly used a small, soft washcloth to wipe at Marinette's face, careful about getting any goo out from her nose and eyes. She still felt too weak to move, but she managed to barely open her eyes.

Alya's eyes watered and she cupped the bluenette's face quickly, "How are you feeling?"

Marinette gave her a slight smile, as it was all she could do. Her voice come out quiet, "Weak. Can't really move at all, but I'm okay. Thank you, Alya. And Ms. Bustier."

"Of course! I'm ALWAYS here for you, you hear me Marinette? I am always here to help you and support you; _no matter what!_ " Alya kissed Mari's forehead sweetly and then pulled back to continue washing her. Marinette felt there was hidden meaning behind Alya's words, like she wanted to say more.

Soon Marinette was all clean, her body feeling much lighter and overall better. Alya left to retrieve some comfy clothes for the girl, while Ms. Bustier dried Marinette off with a towel. They both helped Mari get her clothes on, a comfy white bralette under a light grey t-shirt, pink underwear, and loose maroon colored joggers. Alya tied Marinette's hair into a messy bun, and then they wrapped her up in a warm blanket.

The two girls thanked their teacher for all her help, and then Alya walked with Marinette back to their cabin, arm around her shoulders to support her. At the cabin door sat an impatient Adrien and an irritated Nino. They looked up to see the two girls, both smiling brightly at Marinette's appearance.

"You look alright Marinette!" Nino grinned, standing up to get the door for them.

Adrien ran over and grabbed Marinette away from Alya, picking her up and hugging her tightly to his chest, "You're okay! You're okay, you're okay!" He jumped up and down with happiness, shaking Marinette around like a doll.

Alya smacked Adrien in the back of the head, "Calm down! Can't you see she's completely worn out?"

He stopped jumping and looked at Marinette's dizzy, but smiling face. She was pale, eyes a little baggy. The blonde blushed bright red in embarrassment, dropping her enough that she could touch the ground but kept his arms tight around her. Adrien gently dragged her into the cabin, and picked her up bridal style to place her on to her bed. The room had been cleaned up and tidied since Marinette had ultimately destroyed the place, and it was once again cozy for the friends to relax in. Nino and Alya got comfortable in a blanket on her bed, while Adrien snuggled up besides Marinette. Her body was still weak, so she slowly lifted the blanket to allow Adrien to get underneath it with her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her so that she fit perfectly against his body, almost spooning her.

Leaning his face forward, so that his lips were close to her ear, he whispered, "I want you to know, that I know who you are, bugaboo."

Her eyes widened greatly, pink dusting her cheeks at the light sensation of him whispering into her ear. She turned for a moment, twisting herself at the waist and put a hand on his cheek. Marinette had a tired, but gentle and radiating smile.

"I'm so glad it's you, Chaton." She said lovingly to him, and then turned back to face away from him and get comfortable on her pillow.

He rubbed his face in the back of her hair, his cheeks a little rosey from the close contact but he didn't care, he was just so happy to be holding her and that she was okay. Marinette blushed a little more too, but she was too exhausted to feel embarrassed and she just enjoyed Adrien's, her partner's, warmth and touch, quickly falling asleep in his arms.

Alya got up and snapped a few photos of the two, Adrien barely acknowledging her as he too began to drift asleep, eyelashes fluttering closed softly as he lost himself to Marinette's heat and comfort, listening to the wonderful sound of her slow breathing and very much alive, beating heart.

. . .

"Minou," Marinette whispered, poking Adrien's chin.

He stirred a little, taking a large inhale of breath and then opening his eyes to the dimness of the cabin. Alya and Nino were fast asleep in Alya's bed, both of them snoring mildly. Adrien looked down, Marinette was pressed against him chest to chest, buried in blankets and her bright, blue bell eyes looked up at him so sweetly. He realized his arms were still wrapped around her, almost embracing her. She was so close to him that he could see the details of her freckles across her face, and feel her warm hands rested against his chest. He felt his cheeks warm, much to his embarrassment.

"Sorry to wake you," she said quietly, as to not wake their sleeping friends, "Do you know if Tikki is okay? Where is she?"

Adrien smiled at her, her face adorable and slightly funny looking as her eyebrow was furrowed deeply in concern, "She's doing good, she's been relaxing with Plagg in my cabin."

Marinette let out a sigh of relief, "oh good! Feels so odd to not have her with me."

"Tired of me already?" He teased with a Chat like smirk.

Her lip pouted dramatically as she looked away, a huge blush on her face, "that's not what I meant!"

Adrien laughed, louder then he probably should have and Marinette quickly shushed him, putting a finger to his dry lips. When she moved her finger away, he licked his lips as to moisten them. The movement caught her attention and she stared at his lips a little too long. This didn't go unnoticed by the blonde, and his face suddenly grew serious as he looked into her eyes. His eyes flickered from hers, down to her lips. Marinette felt herself heat up, she clutched Adrien's shirt a little tighter and felt her face gravitating closer to his. He pulled her closer, so that they were pressed tightly against one another with their young hearts beating loudly together. They were so close now, their lips just a second away, she could feel his breath on her lips and she closed her eyes, ready for that moment more than ever.

"Dudes I'm STARVING!" Nino suddenly yelled out, his arms stretching into the air dramatically as he yawned and then put on his cap.

Marinette and Adrien pulled away from each other in a quick instant, both faces beat red. Adrien swore under his breath, while Marinette turned away from him and brought her hands to her hot face.

" _So close_!" She thought, shutting her eyes tight and wrinkling her nose.

"Why you look so grumpy?" Nino asked Adrien as Alya began to get up beside him.

Adrien stuck his tongue out at Nino, "Frick you man."

Nino only shrugged, then turned to help Alya find her glasses. There was an awkward feeling of tension between Marinette and Adrien, but the brunette couple decided to not say anything. Alya gave Marinette a questioning look, and the bluenette responded with a wiggle of her head that implied she'd be telling Alya later that night.

. . .

The two girls were back alone in their cabin. It was past ten, and they were tired but happy. Marinette had been taking it easy, watching as her classmates played games like capture the flag while she sat on the sidelines with Rose and Juleka. The three of them had cheered for various players, Marinette making an extra effort to cheer for Adrien. Some of the awkward tension between them had disappeared, but they still couldn't look into each other's eyes for too long or sit too closely without turning as red as Nathaniel's hair. Alya was eager to hear what had happened.

"Okay girl, spill!" The brunette slammed her hands down on the bed, both of them sitting in Marinette's.

Marinette hid behind her hands, giggling nervously, "Well.. before you and Nino woke up, Adrien and I... almost.."

She was getting flustered, shaking excitedly behind her hands and Alya wiggled in front of her, "Almost WHAT?"

"KISSED!" Marinette screamed, and then grabbed a pillow to continue shrieking into.

"God, and you didn't?" Alya exclaimed, flopping backwards on the bed to try and match the drama of her friend.

"No!" Marinette then used the pillow to smack Alya's knees, "Your dumb boyfriend interrupted us!"

"Is that why you guys were acting so weird when I woke up? God, Nino that idiot! I'm kicking his ass first thing in the morning I swear!" Alya made a fist and then punched her palm, in a threatening fashion.

Marinette shooed Alya with her hand, "No no it's alright! Maybe the perfect moment will arise later!"

"Have you two confessed yet?" Alya demanded.

"No," Marinette sighed, "not officially.. but soon! I want to soon I promise!"

"Well good luck!" Alya grinned at her, leaning forward to pat Marinette on the head, "Better tell me all about it when you two finally make out!"

Marinette squeaked, her whole face turning pink and she wacked Alya with the pillow again, "I said KISS! Not make out! No making out!"

"Yet," Alya winked, waggling her finger.

"I'm not gross like you, Alya! I'm innocent!" Marinette stuck her tongue out childishly, only causing Alya's grin to grow.

She raised her eyebrows suggestively at Marinette, "Not for long! I see how touchy and snuggly you two are and you haven't even kissed yet! Your innocence is already diminishing! The innocent Marinette that I knew couldn't even say a proper sentence to Adrien let alone fall asleep in his handsome, tanned, model arms!"

The pigtailed girl giggled in embarrassment, stretching out her arms and wrestling Alya off of the bed. They fell on to the floor hard, but the brief pain didn't subside their loud, happy laughter.

"We should get to bed," Marinette said as she wiped away tears, "I bet Ms. Bustier will have some plans for us since we had the whole day of free time today. Even if most of it was wasted with me terrorizing all of you.."

Alya put a reassuring hand on Marinette's shoulder, "Don't feel bad. It wasn't at all your fault, and no one got hurt in the end but you, really. And you're okay too! So see, no harm done. Plus, I believe that Ladybug and Chat Noir will soon find a way to end whatever craziness is going on with these animals. And if not, that's okay too! There's only what, like four more days left of our trip and then we're going home and we'll never have to step foot in these demented woods ever again!"

"Already just four days left?" Marinette sighed, and thought to herself, " _Can Chat and_ _I really save the_ _forest in just four days?_ "

The girls crawled into their respective beds, wishing each other a good night and then went silent as they fell asleep. Marinette, though exhausted, forced herself to stay awake. She waited only 15 minutes until she finally heard Alya's snores. As discretely as she could, she tip toed out of the bed, out through the cabin door, and then snuck around the back heading for Adrien's cabin.

"Nice of you to join me this fine night, princess," Chat Noir said slyly from a tree, scaring Marinette.

She jumped in fright, and then spun around to face the black hero hiding in the trees, "Do you have Tikki!?"

He nodded his head, jumping down from the branches and landing in front of her, knees bent as he bowed before her. She laughed, and then opened her hands to accept the kwami. He opened his own hands, and their lay Tikki, happy and alive but looking very ill. She flew over to Marinette quickly, nuzzling her face lovingly.

"Oh Tikki I've missed you so much!" Marinette said as she gently rubbed the red kwami.

Tikki fluttered down and relaxed in the palm of Marinette's hand, "I've missed you too, Marinette. So nice to be with you again, Plagg and Adrien have taken great care of me, but no one can top the TLC of you, Marinette!"

Chat stood beside Marinette, and wrapped an arm around her waist. He rested his head on hers, watching the girl and her kwami interact with fondness and joy for them.

"You feeling better from earlier, Tikki?" Chat Noir asked.

"Yes, thanks to you Chat," she smiled at him in gratitude, "But I'm afraid I have some, somewhat bad news for you two."

"Oh?" Marinette said, "What is it?"

Tikki took a deep breath, and while looking directly into her chosen's eyes she said, "We can't transform you into Ladybug."

"Forever?" Chat gasped while Marinette was speechless. He moved behind the bluenette, clutching her shoulders with both of his hands.

Tikki looked to Chat, lips turned down in an frown, "No, not forever. But for about three days. I'm not strong enough now and the miraculous needs to rest too, it weakened a little while you were in the rat state."

"We only have four days left though," Marinette moaned.

The red kwami nodded, "Yes, which means you'll only have one chance to cleanse the river and the forests. No more practicing, and in that moment it'll be 'now or never.' I'm sorry Marinette.."

Tikki looked down, feeling somewhat ashamed. Marinette brought her hands to her face, and placed a tender kiss on Tikki's spot on her forehead.

"Don't feel bad, Tikki. This isn't your fault. Plus, I have an idea!"

Marinette gave Tikki a huge grin and then spun around to face Chat again, "Ready to practice, partner?"

He looked down at her, smirking slightly, "Always!"

Chat carried Marinette through the woods, Tikki resting in Marinette's pink, hoodie pocket. They found a little clearing in the trees, nowhere near as large as the meadow from before but it had just enough space for them to jump around. He sat her down, holding in a laugh at her out of place appearance. Her hair was in its usual pigtails, but they were messy and loose. She wore her pink over sized hoodie, and then black pajama bottoms that were decorated with little ladybugs and green paw prints. On her feet she had pink slippers. While she was very much Marinette, Chat could see that she was also very much Ladybug. Her face was determined, excited even and she looked ready to take on any villain or bully.

"So the issue we have," she began, "is synchronization. It was my fault last time, I'd gotten distracted.. but if we can master our synchronization, even while I'm just simple me, then when I'm Ladybug it'll be a piece of cake!"

Chat Noir looked at her proudly, and added, "I meant what I said about you the other night Mari. You're not 'just' you. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is just as strong, brilliant, and heroic as Ladybug. You don't need to be in the spandex suit and mask to be incredible."

Her eyes watered, and she ran at the cat hero to hug him. His eyes widened in surprise, ears going flat on his head as he wrapped his arms around Marinette. They hugged for a long moment, just enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms.

"Okay, I'm ready!" She announced, pulling away from him.

Marinette looked around, and picked up a few objects. A large pinecone, a broken branch, and a dirty stone. She dropped the stone and pinecone, but held on to the branch.

"Maybe for now, don't use your real cataclysm, but just pretend, like how I am," Marinette suggested to Chat.

He nodded in agreement, "your cleverness is almost, over-elm-ing, my lady."

She rolled her eyes at the pun, and then held the branch, ready to throw it in the air. Tikki flew out of Mari's pocket to watch, and help guide them if they were off at all.

Marinette threw the branch high into the air, shouting, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Chat Noir jumped in that same moment, leaping just as high as the branch and palmed it hard, a second after she finished saying 'Ladybug.'

Tikki shook her head, "That was good, but Chat Noir was a little late. It needs to be perfect, otherwise it won't work and one of you will end up getting hurt."

The girl and hero nodded, and Marinette picked up the branch to try again. They practiced together for a little less than an hour, by the end of it, they both were in perfect sync. Not only with the tree branch, but with the pinecone and heavy stone as well.

Marinette was wiping the sweat off of her brow as Chat spoke, "I think it'd be good for us to come out here and practice every night. Maybe we can bring some random items too, since we have no idea what the lucky charm will end up being."

"That's a great idea," she said back to him, opening a plastic bag she had in her pocket and handing Tikki a cookie, "Cookie for the kitty?"

Chat Noir nodded eagerly, so childlike, that Marinette burst out laughing as she handed a cookie to her partner. She ate one herself, and then rode on Chat's back as they hurried back to the cabins. He walked with her to her's again, the two in an uncomfortable silence.

"Goodnight Mari, get some rest and I'll see you in the morning?" He looked at the floor, cheeks red.

Marinette smiled, he looked so bashful and Adrien like that she wondered how she'd never realized it before. She took a step towards him, placing a hand on his jaw and pulling herself closer to him. He looked up in surprise, but then closed his eyes as he leaned down closer to her.

And then Mari panicked. Instead of going for his half puckered lips, she quickly moved and kissed right next to his lips, softly but with enough pressure that his own lips kissed her in the same spot on her face. She pulled away quickly, embarrassed by her fumble, and then backed away in a rush.

"Ahhh I'm s-so embarrassing, ha! Sorry Chaton, uh, yeah, g-goodnight and see you in the morning!" She studdered out and then ran into the cabin, ignoring his outstretched hand and somewhat defeated expression.

She sank to the floor, back resting against the door. Tikki flew out, yawning as she whispered, "Get a hold of yourself, Marinette. That was a mess."

The bluenette sighed, "I know, I just panicked and ugh it's just a kiss! Why can't I just kiss him!"

Tikki giggled, "Don't worry Marinette. The perfect moment will come naturally. Don't try to force it or you'll just make it uncomfortable for both of you."

She sighed, using her hand like a fan to cool her warm face. Marinette stood up, took off her slippers and then crawled under the covers of her bed. Tikki snuggled in beside her, nesting herself in Marinette's soft hair.

In a cabin in another part of the campsite, Adrien fell asleep to the sound of Plagg's irritating, mocking laughter.

 **Okay cuties, just one more chapter and this story will be FINISHED! I'm sad but also very proud to be completing a story! Thank you so much for your continuous support, please leave reviews with any of your thoughts and I promise to get the next chapter finished soon! I'll be busy the next few days to prepare for my husbands birthday and I have to work on commisions again, but writing is my "me time" so I promise to get this out to you guys soon! Also if you have any suggestions for scenes you'd like me to illustrate, please let me know and don't forget to check out my Facebook art page! ;) love you all so much!**


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